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Apple Accuses Former Employee of Stealing Trade Secrets and Leaking Them to Media
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What a n00b. You don't use company owned devices for your illegal communications and scheming. You use a burner device (phone).
All the wackos in these forums are crazy, that's why I enjoy it so much.
I love reading about people hoping headphone jack comes back and they make a iPhone pro mini honestly it's some of the funniest stuff ever.
the best is when they think apple should give stuff away for free or prices are too high so dam funny.
That was right before the 16-inch MacBook Pro was announced which was released on 13th November.
Lancaster was instrumental in the development of the 13"/15" Macbook Pro with the touch bar, and the design of unreleased Apple products.
Did he do the butterfly keyboard or the staingate display?
Did he do the butterfly keyboard or the staingate display?
Who precisely, is the Media contact ?
Let the guessing begin !
I predict this could take on a Life of its own !
Let the guessing begin !
I predict this could take on a Life of its own !
Now we know why there was so much detailed information about products coming out the last 2+ years. I wonder how much information about future products was leaked? 2018 - 2025?
Could also be the AR glasses details being revealed by Mark Gurman in Bloomberg.
Apple’s Smart Glasses Could Make 2020 the Year of AR
Augmented reality is primed for growth with new consumer gadgets.
www.bloomberg.com
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Totally agree. Look at all the "righteous" comments from people on the macRUMOURS site. Hilarious!
Regardless of what is and isn't right, you ALL come here to find out more than is publicly known yet so you are all guilty. Without audience there would be no leaks. Simple as that.
So Ricebucket is on point here.
Regardless of what is and isn't right, you ALL come here to find out more than is publicly known yet so you are all guilty. Without audience there would be no leaks. Simple as that.
So Ricebucket is on point here.
It's referred to as Project X in the complaint because it still has not been made public. It is likely the upcoming AR headset.
Plus a super secret meeting about a 16 inch MacBook happening days before it being made publicly available doesn't seem likely when the supply chain was already building them.
Agreed... not even just that, what is the Apple penalty for not returning your devices? Just keep them or destroy them and say "sorry" and take the hit on whatever they cost in your last paycheck.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
Suspended
I think Jon processer works for Apple lol we just don't know about it.
Oh crap! I hope he wasn’t the ‘new Apple Watch Bands’ leaker!
He/she said while visiting a website that publishes said leaks. Anyway, we're talking about revealing earlier that a company will be putting a product on the market. I understand that Apple will protect itself, that this person stole proprietary information and will likely face the consequences.
But hoping a person goes to jail for a long time and pays heavy fines because they stole from their coworkers the "joy of being part of an Apple launch?!" That's a bit much of the Kool Aid. No person actually got hurt here, so shall we just dial it down a notch?
So, one way to create value is to invent something no one else has even thought of. Design something. We all read Apple rumors because we want to see what it is. Checking the supply chain ... probably fair game. Reading foreign press? Sure. A straight up leaker? I don't see how that adds value. 🍸😿
When people get away with things for years, they become complacent.
Apple today filed a lawsuit against Simon Lancaster, a former employee who allegedly used his position within the company to steal "sensitive trade secret information" from Apple that was then leaked to a journalist and published in rumor articles.
Lancaster worked at Apple for more than a decade, using his seniority to attend internal meetings and access documents that Apple says were "outside the scope of his job's responsibilities." Details he obtained were published in media articles that "cited a 'source' at Apple."
In exchange for the leaked information, Lancaster asked the media person he was in contact with for favors, such as providing favorable coverage of a startup company that Lancaster invested in.
Until November 1, 2019, Lancaster was employed as an Advanced Materials Lead and Product Design Architect involved with multiple hardware projects. His role was evaluating materials and prototyping innovations for future hardware devices. He began leaking details to the media contact on November 29, 2018 through text messages, emails, and phone calls.
After resigning from Apple, Lancaster "deepened" his relationship with the media correspondent he was speaking to, and Apple's internal investigation of Apple-owned devices that Lancaster returned after employment suggested that he communicated about "specific Apple trade secrets" while also taking "specific steps" to seek out additional information. On his last day, Lancaster downloaded a "substantial number" of confidential Apple documents.According to Apple, the information that Lancaster shared included details of "unreleased Apple hardware products, unannounced feature changes to existing hardware products, and future product announcements." He also took on a new role at Arris Composites, a vendor serving under Apple, and Apple says that he accessed confidential information that would assist Arris in addition to leaking Apple documents to the media.
Apple does not provide detail on which products were leaked by Lancaster, but many of the leaks happened right around October and November of 2019, and concerned what Apple calls "Project X." Just after Lancaster left, in fact, he spoke with the journalist that he leaked details to, congratulating the person on the success of an article that contained details he had leaked.
Like all Apple employees, Lancaster signed a "Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Agreement" prior to being hired by Apple that prohibits them from sharing secret and proprietary information, plus he attended "security trainings" and "Business Conduct" events centered on preventing theft of secret documents.
Apple is now seeking damages that were incurred as a result of the trade secrets that Lancaster stole, with Apple planning to determine the amount at trial. Apple also wants to recover from Lancaster all gains, profits, and advantages that he obtained through the document theft.
The lawsuit was first shared by AppleInsider this afternoon. We've included the full document below, and it's a fascinating read that covers leak culture within Apple and the lengths the company will go to in order to put a stop to it.
Article Link: Apple Accuses Former Employee of Stealing Trade Secrets and Leaking Them to Media
Good luck to both. Let’s fingercross it doesn’t backfire to Apple 👀.
Apple today filed a lawsuit against Simon Lancaster, a former employee who allegedly used his position within the company to steal "sensitive trade secret information" from Apple that was then leaked to a journalist and published in rumor articles.
Lancaster worked at Apple for more than a decade, using his seniority to attend internal meetings and access documents that Apple says were "outside the scope of his job's responsibilities." Details he obtained were published in media articles that "cited a 'source' at Apple."
In exchange for the leaked information, Lancaster asked the media person he was in contact with for favors, such as providing favorable coverage of a startup company that Lancaster invested in.
Until November 1, 2019, Lancaster was employed as an Advanced Materials Lead and Product Design Architect involved with multiple hardware projects. His role was evaluating materials and prototyping innovations for future hardware devices. He began leaking details to the media contact on November 29, 2018 through text messages, emails, and phone calls.
After resigning from Apple, Lancaster "deepened" his relationship with the media correspondent he was speaking to, and Apple's internal investigation of Apple-owned devices that Lancaster returned after employment suggested that he communicated about "specific Apple trade secrets" while also taking "specific steps" to seek out additional information. On his last day, Lancaster downloaded a "substantial number" of confidential Apple documents.According to Apple, the information that Lancaster shared included details of "unreleased Apple hardware products, unannounced feature changes to existing hardware products, and future product announcements." He also took on a new role at Arris Composites, a vendor serving under Apple, and Apple says that he accessed confidential information that would assist Arris in addition to leaking Apple documents to the media.
Apple does not provide detail on which products were leaked by Lancaster, but many of the leaks happened right around October and November of 2019, and concerned what Apple calls "Project X." Just after Lancaster left, in fact, he spoke with the journalist that he leaked details to, congratulating the person on the success of an article that contained details he had leaked.
Like all Apple employees, Lancaster signed a "Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Agreement" prior to being hired by Apple that prohibits them from sharing secret and proprietary information, plus he attended "security trainings" and "Business Conduct" events centered on preventing theft of secret documents.
Apple is now seeking damages that were incurred as a result of the trade secrets that Lancaster stole, with Apple planning to determine the amount at trial. Apple also wants to recover from Lancaster all gains, profits, and advantages that he obtained through the document theft.
The lawsuit was first shared by AppleInsider this afternoon. We've included the full document below, and it's a fascinating read that covers leak culture within Apple and the lengths the company will go to in order to put a stop to it.
Article Link: Apple Accuses Former Employee of Stealing Trade Secrets and Leaking Them to Media
When Apple gets done legally boxing Lancaster, he won''t be able to eat anything unless it is applesauce.
ahhh...so its ok for apple to circumvent their own encryption to investigate an employee. but not for law enforcement....got it.
Nope. From the front page: "MacRumors attracts a broad audience of both consumers and professionals interested in the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms."
That last bit is what *I* think of... When I come here, I look for news, product announcements, software update notifications, technical assistance, and all manner of conversation in the forums. Yes, the rumors are interesting and I don't ignore them - but despite the name, it's not only a "rumors" website. If that's the simplistic and pessimistic view you want to take, that's fine, but it's subjective and very narrowly conceived.
"Lancaster asked the media person he was in contact with for favors, such as providing favorable coverage of a startup company that Lancaster invested in."
This small detail makes me think that he wasn't leaking information to some sort of rumours blog!! He was quite probably talking with someone at Journal or some other type of Mass Media focused on the financial market. There aren’t that many people that fit this description!
This small detail makes me think that he wasn't leaking information to some sort of rumours blog!! He was quite probably talking with someone at Journal or some other type of Mass Media focused on the financial market. There aren’t that many people that fit this description!
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How does access to information work at Apple? When you are a certain position, do you just have access to a file server you can just easily scrape without anyone noticing immediately? I can't even email stuff from my company email without it getting noticed. Also, I thought Steve Jobs had an only on a need to know basis policy setup? I think this probably broke down around 2015 when they started integrating teams. But, it explains why even some competitors like Huawei had Windows laptop designs that looked just like the MacBook Pro that launched in 2016.
I think if there is one intellectual property Apple needs to invest a lot in protecting, its macOS and iOS. Its what differentiates everything from the competition. Because, if that code ends up in the wrong hands where they could clone it and remove any certificates that would prevent it from easily being installed on a generic x86 laptop, then that would be a problem. But, then again, the move the Apple silicon its probably not much of a worry, but you can bet the Chinese would like to be able to clone iOS to work on counterfeit iPhones or cheap devices.
I think if there is one intellectual property Apple needs to invest a lot in protecting, its macOS and iOS. Its what differentiates everything from the competition. Because, if that code ends up in the wrong hands where they could clone it and remove any certificates that would prevent it from easily being installed on a generic x86 laptop, then that would be a problem. But, then again, the move the Apple silicon its probably not much of a worry, but you can bet the Chinese would like to be able to clone iOS to work on counterfeit iPhones or cheap devices.