Would be an interesting thing for sure. Laws are always so messy and full of carve outs and loopholes. Apple would probably start classifying their techs as LEOs to still force them to wear it ;)
apple has been consistently ironic about that for decades. deciding what software you can install on your own computer, not letting you repair it, paying for exclusive access to hardware locking out competition (screens, 5nm)
I was searching for a comment like this..some were so focused on clickbait others were "considering the source" but no one remembered this ad...This culture is so anti-steve..
The health secretary in the UK has just resigned after footage was leaked of him kissing his lover in his office. Remarkably, this government minister didn't know he was being spied on in his own office by facilities management. So, yes, surveillance can spectacularly backfire.
That sounds more spinny than the original - phrases like "select few" and "hardware trade secrets" seem to add valuation to an otherwise fairly factual title.
Note, when I read this, the current title was:
"Apple making some employees wear body cams in response to leaks"
The original article title is: "Apple Making Employees Wear Police-Grade Body Cams in Response to Leaks"
In reality:
* It's a few groups who handle hardware, it's not like the entire engineering team is forced to walk around with body cameras or face execution.
* "Police Grade" means nothing - it's an alarming phrased used for no reason.
* "In response to leaks" while fine, makes light of the situation - in reality its concerning hardware designs of one of the most complex hardware operation in the world.
"Police Grade" should mean that it's designed to withstand situations where the wearer is interacting with physically abusive and/or vomiting people, but if that's part of Apple's design requirements then perhaps there are bigger problems than just the cameras.
I've evaluated Axon body cameras for compliance to various standards and and the police grade is less vomit resistance (they are in fact durable cameras, but there are many consumer brands that offer similar durability) and more provable digital chain of custody for when you are going to use the resulting video in court. Also, very simple start/stop operation and extremely clear indication that it's on/off.
While we are on this. How does Coca Cola protect their recipe? The products is “brewed” all over the world in many facilities. How do you keep that a secret when there are machines to configure and all this ingredient deliveries?
Compartmentalization. Company A produces mix containing ingredients 1, 3 and 5. Company B produces mix containing ingredients 2, 4 and 6. Only a handful of people at Coca-Cola even know the details of what companies A and B produce, and everyone below just knows "we combine the two mixes we receive"
Also, good lawyers + good contracts. Its way more profitable for those companies to be quiet about what their mix is than risk the wrath of a $233B beverage company.
The formula keeps changing over time. Pre 1906 it had cocaine in it.
Here is the recipe.
Extract of coca leaves, caffeine, plenty of sugar (it specifies 30 unidentified units thought to be pounds), lime juice, vanilla and caramel make a syrup.
Into that syrup, the all-important 7x flavourings are added: alcohol and six oils – orange, lemon, nutmeg, coriander, neroli and cinnamon
Knowing this won't help you beat coke. It might have 100 years ago but how coke tastes isn't as important as the leases they hold in key retail spaces.
The Intelligence community wouldn't ever rely on something like strapping body cameras on to people to ensure they're not leaking information. There's a lot of processes involved to prevent untrustworthy people from ever entering inside a SCIF like your clearance (which is a long and expensive process), then specific onboarding for the sensitive area you're going to be entering, then restricted access to information pertinent to whatever your shop's mission is and also just simply restricting access to sensitive information to the confines of the SCIF. No cell phones. No thumb drives. No laptops. Extremely restricted means of moving sensitive data between locations.
If Apple has information they consider to be highly sensitive, they actually should take "CIA style measures" and not this nonsense.
The funny thing is that someone could openly start wearing a bodycam for themselves and record everything for leaks, and no one would know that it wasn't authorized.
it would be amusing to me if this is not in fact true but was a plan given to a specific employee suspected of being a leaker, waiting for him to leak it as proof.
Wouldn't be the most secretive thing apple has done. I think some internal groups are given red herring designs with the actual key material embedded into it, but depending on which red herrings go out they knew where the leaks came from.
And following from that, they know who gets to be fired.
Isn't this obviously a joke? Just how would body cams help with leaks?
The concept of police body cams is that there's a discrete event at a specific time that they want to investigate, for example an arrest. You cannot do that with leaks. If the iPhone Next leaks, just what are they going to do? Scan through every minute of body cam footage over months? And look for what?
What's really funny is that this escalating response from Apple in response to leaks comes directly as the relevance of Apple leaks has gone down. Nobody gives a fuck what the next iPhone is going to look like. Apple events are no longer these mystical ripples in spacetime because 1) Steve Jobs is dead and 2) Apple is not cool anymore 3) everyone knows the next iPhone will be a rounded rectangle with a screen on one side.
Apple thinks that they will reclaim their cool by controlling leaks but nobody is going to get excited about Tim Cook pulling the next iPhone out of his pocket. Apple's engineering is still great, but they are no longer an entertainment event.
The usual kinds of leaks do not help case manufacturers. You need very detailed schematics or the device itself to be able to make accessories for it. A blurry photo definitely won't do.
Apple doesn't need to be cool anymore. they just need to keep selling a crapload of phones every year and app store downloads, which they seem to have no problem doing. Neither Google nor Microsoft are cool yet are still hugely successful with surging share prices.
Yes, a major reason Apple is not cool anymore is that they are so successful. It is really very rare for the top vendor to be the cool one, because "cool" almost definitionally means something that not everyone is. Apple did it for awhile though.
I don't think it's the iPhone they're primarily worrying about, it's their first foray into a new field. So that could be the first Apple automobile or the first Apple AR/VR device. That might matter a lot if it gets leaked way ahead of time.
Stating the obvious, but their software is (mostly) made in house; the hardware is outsourced to 3rd parties. I suspect the 3rd parties are the problem.
Apple's products are widely imitated. By controlling leaks, they give themselves a head start in the market before new innovations are copied.
New iPhone models are largely predictable and incremental. However, Apple is involved in a number of other markets -- some of which essentially don't exist yet.
This article is probably bullshit. I mean, it might be true that Apple is requiring some employees to wear a body camera in some circumstances, but none of the evidence cited even indicates that this is directly in response to leaks.
It doesn’t even make much sense. Unless they’re hoping to catch body camera evidence of an employee using a phone to snap a picture of a prototype, what sort of leak would this possibly prevent? And really, would it be that hard to “accidentally” obscure the body camera for the 5 seconds it takes to snap such a photo anyway?
It certainly won’t stop you from calling, texting, or meeting a journalist in your free time to leak whatever information you want.
There’s probably much less to the story than this sensationalist headline suggests.
I thought it was pretty well established that the Santa Clara story was one of a rogue sheriff shaking down Apple for some free iPads. In return apple would get their security staff approvals greenlit.
exactly. Head of security at a transnational not being able to deal with a rogue sheriff in a very law abiding country/state/county and getting caught with pants down instead - it is hard to be more inept than that.
I've never heard of this website before, but perusing some of their other articles does not inspire much confidence in the quality of their journalism.
First of all... if this story comes from a leak, how do we even know it's real? Tons if not most of Apple "leaks" turn out to be false. Also, how do we know this is in order to prevent leaks, as opposed to other security concerns (like accessing PII).
Second, even if true, it's impossible to judge this without knowing who "some" employees are. I would expect that highly paid Apple engineers aren't all going to be wearing them all day at the office -- that would make hiring a bit difficult...
But if there are certain restricted-access design rooms that they require you to wear one while inside? Or a policy for third-party contractors where Apple doesn't have control over the premises and can't install security cameras? I dunno, but I can imagine a few scenarios where this might not be obviously unreasonable.
Consistent with Apple's implementation of other surveillance measures[1], this is clearly for the benefit and security of users and employees who don't know any better.
108 comments
[ 3.8 ms ] story [ 230 ms ] threadWill we have to fight for a law that says we will not be retaliated against if we don't want to wear body cams at work?
https://www.macworld.co.uk/news/apple-lawyers-leakers-380606...
I tweeted the ad here https://twitter.com/maram5e/status/1127394371433840655?s=20. Interestingly, Steve was fired from Apple exactly next year.
Good lord! Both at the same time? That's outrageous. This bloke doesn't seem to have heard of the Unix philosopy - do just one thing and do it well.
Note, when I read this, the current title was: "Apple making some employees wear body cams in response to leaks"
In reality:
* It's a few groups who handle hardware, it's not like the entire engineering team is forced to walk around with body cameras or face execution.
* "Police Grade" means nothing - it's an alarming phrased used for no reason.
* "In response to leaks" while fine, makes light of the situation - in reality its concerning hardware designs of one of the most complex hardware operation in the world.
We're talking about Apple - a 2 trillion dollar operation that operates in hundreds of countries.
Here is the recipe.
Extract of coca leaves, caffeine, plenty of sugar (it specifies 30 unidentified units thought to be pounds), lime juice, vanilla and caramel make a syrup.
Into that syrup, the all-important 7x flavourings are added: alcohol and six oils – orange, lemon, nutmeg, coriander, neroli and cinnamon
Knowing this won't help you beat coke. It might have 100 years ago but how coke tastes isn't as important as the leases they hold in key retail spaces.
If Apple has information they consider to be highly sensitive, they actually should take "CIA style measures" and not this nonsense.
At some Intel Jones Farm lab entrances where chip design was taking place back in 1997, there was buzz-in, camera over entrance door and badge check.
That was on top of entry and exit bag search and badge check.
Tech is more mobile and the stakes are much higher at Apple due to the speed of information transfer and action.
So, nothing to see here.
This site is just mad Apple is clamping down on their sources to create content and build advertising around.
And following from that, they know who gets to be fired.
The concept of police body cams is that there's a discrete event at a specific time that they want to investigate, for example an arrest. You cannot do that with leaks. If the iPhone Next leaks, just what are they going to do? Scan through every minute of body cam footage over months? And look for what?
I mean, people had freaking launch parties for Windows 95.
Now I'm actively trying to work out ways not to install windows 11.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cX4t5-YpHQ
It was a unique condition that one person was both the greatest tech marketer and greatest tech product manager of all time.
Also one of the greatest assholes of all time. You can't do him justice if you leave that achievement out.
I think iPhone 4 had the greatest differential impact, on its release the IPS Retina was something unreal.
Apple doesn't need to be cool anymore. they just need to keep selling a crapload of phones every year and app store downloads, which they seem to have no problem doing. Neither Google nor Microsoft are cool yet are still hugely successful with surging share prices.
Right. What number are they on now, anyway?
The only leaks they have yet to stop is the hardware related ones.
Great example was during WWDC almost no software changes were leaked before hand.
https://9to5mac.com/2016/05/04/apple-music-ios-10-revamp/
New iPhone models are largely predictable and incremental. However, Apple is involved in a number of other markets -- some of which essentially don't exist yet.
It doesn’t even make much sense. Unless they’re hoping to catch body camera evidence of an employee using a phone to snap a picture of a prototype, what sort of leak would this possibly prevent? And really, would it be that hard to “accidentally” obscure the body camera for the 5 seconds it takes to snap such a photo anyway?
It certainly won’t stop you from calling, texting, or meeting a journalist in your free time to leak whatever information you want.
There’s probably much less to the story than this sensationalist headline suggests.
it may as well be in the areas of "no portable electronic devices".
About rationality of the Apple's security - we're talking about people caught bribing Santa Clara sheriff ...
Maybe the camera is a decoy and really, they just want to know who is around the computer at the time of the leak (location/gps/wifi/etc).
Second, even if true, it's impossible to judge this without knowing who "some" employees are. I would expect that highly paid Apple engineers aren't all going to be wearing them all day at the office -- that would make hiring a bit difficult...
But if there are certain restricted-access design rooms that they require you to wear one while inside? Or a policy for third-party contractors where Apple doesn't have control over the premises and can't install security cameras? I dunno, but I can imagine a few scenarios where this might not be obviously unreasonable.
Also, don't all their leaks happen from their Chinese suppliers anyways?
[1] https://www.sentinelone.com/blog/what-happened-to-my-mac-app...