Apple Demands Leaker Reveals Sources Under Threat of Being Reported to Police

[Abazigal]

Apple isn’t going to win the leak war. What’s leaked is leaked; there’s no getting it back. Journalists can legally report on it and they know that. It takes 5 minutes to create a truly untraceable Twitter account using Tor, or Whonix if you’re extra paranoid.

Leaks these days are simply news outlets and blogs all regurgitating the same unsubstantiated rumours. Cut off the leak at the source, and you stem the tide.

 

[tongxinshe]

I really dont want to get into a fair labor debate, but that is half the average Chinese salary. https://www.statista.com/statistics/278350/average-annual-salary-of-an-employee-in-china-by-region/ The country-wide average is just over 90,000 per year.

They are paid like crap even for China standards. 48,000 even yearly is lower than the average for any Chinese province.

"The country-wide average is just over 90,000 per year”? Is that in your dream? Chinese Prime Minister publicly said last year that “there are more than 600 million people who earns less than ¥1000 a month”. Foxconn’s salary is always ~20% higher than the average in the geo area it operates for similar positions in other factories, that’s how it is always able to attract enough labor.

 

[bLackjackj]

Almost every reliable or even slightly reliable leaker, Mark from Bloomberg, Prosser, Quo, some of the Twitter leakers

Prosser? 🤣,..he's NOT a leaker! He simply rides off the tail of Gurman when he's right & constantly wrong when he makes up others.

 

[duervo]

This is seriously messed up. Unless Apple has EVIDENCE that this "Mr White" did something illegal or participated in this alleged illegal activity directly, then reposting a photo sent to you is not a crime I'm aware of.

Imagine if this flew in the US and you could sue every journalist (which has a brought definition at best) when they posted something that a company did not want to be released to the public....

But of course, go after the Chinese citizens who have no such rights. The low-hanging fruit. Real big of Apple who claims to support all of these ethical policies globally, but then uses those abuses to their advantage when convenient.

You could sue every journalist though. After all, that’s one of things for which the USA is known … being a very litigious society.

Doesn’t mean you’d win … but you could certainly try 🤣

 

[dogslobber]

thinksecret.com is back as thinksecret.ch

 

[germinator]

Cull the leaks... LOL

 

[GumaRodak]

Well that's the issue. They aren't going after people in the US because of freedom of the press issues. They can refuse to grant press privileges, no events, no review devices, etc. And a "nuh uh uh" type of letter. That's really about it.

They are going after the low-hanging fruit in civil rights abused countries that have no such protections. The very same ones that Apple claims to stand up for the rights of the citizens. Ironic eh?

That is the more sickening part to me. They claim to stand for human rights in those countries, but are ok abusing them via those lack of protections when convenient to them.

Revealing company secrets and patents is not a press freedom.

 

[obamtl]

I really, really wonder, as unlikely as it is, if this has something to do with WWDC.
Almost every reliable or even slightly reliable leaker, Mark from Bloomberg, Prosser, Quo, some of the Twitter leakers, all said or implied that there would be new MacBook Pro‘s announced at the event, and some leakers also said that iOS 15 would include a completely redesigned lock screen and control center.
Apple clearly knew about how high the expectations were, they even put “M1X” in the YouTube tags, but none of these things happened, and the event was seen by pretty much everyone as disappointing.
I wonder if, right after this event, that’s when they decided to start cracking down

Possibly. Apple could have countered that with a counter-narrative through their media contacts sooner.

The thing about leaks is that from a consumer perspective, they probably increase mind share. There's anticipation building all year for Apple products, and that's a good thing. Where it might hurt Apple is if leaks are so early that competitors get a headstart on creating new products to challenge Apple's innovations.

 

[jlc1978]

Of course, there is ever a "one size fits all answer." Weighing 1st Amendment and sources against trade secrets would be a battle. I still think 1st Amendment would carry, especially in today's political climate that is going after corporations and monopolies. SCOTUS certainly follows the political climate often.

I would also hope the 1st would prevail in most situations. I think were are pretty much in agreement overall.

It would be interesting to see what SCOTUS would do - broaden the 1st, narrow it or punt and say it's not a matter of public concern and avoid the whole issue.

Or this very site that republishes the republished photos and info (or iDB, etc etc). Where does the republication risk stop then and liability? Because there would be a LOT of people in hot water here in the chain of republishing- hundreds of sites.

Good question. I would posit if they republish previously published info from other sources they should be safe because they would not know it was misappropriated and is already public.

Of course, assuming the journalist did nothing illegal or paid them to do it; I did address that exception earlier. That is not covered rather clearly.

That's the point many posters miss - the 1st is not a blanket protection from any liability from what you post in such cases. The government may not be able to restrain you from publishing it, but that does not absolve you of civii or criminal penalties.

In this case, we do not know whether he got the information legally or illegally..

The part that burns my ethical britches here is they are going after the render artist in the Netherlands (I believe it was, one of those Nordic countries), China, Asia, etc.

They are using other country's oppressive laws and lack of rights similar to the US to go after those people though. While touting how they back human rights (especially in China where m fairly sure this Mr White is from, and Kang). That is what is very sadly ironic here.

When in doubt to causation, follow the money.

Possibly. Apple could have countered that with a counter-narrative through their media contacts sooner.

The thing about leaks is that from a consumer perspective, they probably increase mind share. There's anticipation building all year for Apple products, and that's a good thing. Where it might hurt Apple is if leaks are so early that competitors get a headstart on creating new products to challenge Apple's innovations.

The flip side is it can reduce demand for existing products as people wait for the next thing, hurting Apple economically.

 

[Apple Core]

Bring manufacturing back to the US!

 

[robertosh]

Do you remember when Jobs joked about leaks on every keynote ? 😂

 

[Fred Zed]

One of the disadvantages of using factories in China I guess.

 

[macintoshmac]

Steve wanted to go thermonuclear on Android. Tim wants to go thermonuclear on individual leakers. It’s all about class and interests. To each his own.

 

[jlc1978]

Bring manufacturing back to the US!

That would be nice but for a lot of what Apple sells the cost impact would be too high. I doubt most people would be happy to pay a third more for Apple products. If they did do more in the US it's likely high end (Mac Pro as was done once) or highly automated assembly; which would still involve sourcing many assemblys abroad until they can create iPhones on a chip and not have to populate circuit boards..