Apple fired the father of the viral YouTuber

[Wxchaser]

It still strikes me as quite odd that when the original video went viral - many enthusiast sites and general news were reporting the video as an Apple PR stunt, especially right after the engineer's daughter took the video down as requested by Apple.

 

[Rafterman]

Seriously? This isn’t difficult. He violated the terms of his employment by allowing his (adult) daughter to do what she did AND to do it on the Apple campus. Not to mention:

And my point flew over your head.
[doublepost=1509301711][/doublepost]

Well, aside from all the secret projects at Apple that the video revealed the existence of...

Secret? Really?

 

[Pascal325]

Clearly you do not work in technology, and specifically hardware technology.

Actually I do, and have for 25 years.

 

[DreamPod]

Secret? Really?

While using the phone she brought up the Apple Employee’s notifications which included a meeting referencing a secret project by its code name, and then opened up his Notes which apparently included information on other secret codenamed projects.

 

[Pascal325]

Understandable, but here is the issue I have. Everyone posted videos online at the release of the iPhone X conference before this showing it working. Why is this one issue with the girl posting it caused her DAD to get fired? There were videos already out there! Like I said, seems to be Apples fault on this one. I do not blame him especially since Apple already did the announcement on the X.

Members of the public taking pictures of the phone in use is one thing. Handing the phone over to someone who is openly filming, another.

 

[deany]

it's appropriate a fiver per 1000 views, not worth his old fellas job for that, more than meets the eye.
Ps
'Get Ready' by New Order is one of the best albums of all times.

 

[Pascal325]

100% wrong. After the keynote, employees were explicitly allowed to use the phone in public (I have seen several in person, one up close). They are told clearly what they are and aren't allowed to do with hardware, in this case it's 98% certain they were clearly told not to:

(1) Let any non-Apple employee touch the device
(2) Let anyone film / photograph the device (can't help someone taking a quick / discrete shot, but that wasn't the case here, it was blatant and her dad allowed it).

He deserved to be fired. I hope launching his daughter's YouTube career was worth his job.

Okay, again, Apple announced it after the keynote. Videos were posted online of it working. So why is this so different?!

I'm pretty sure this was filmed in the corporate cafeteria.

Public or inside of Apple Cafeteria, doesn't matter. Still after the keynote.

Wow! You have no idea how technology companies work. The Apple cafeteria isn't out in public. Neither is the employees home. And, even if he did take it out in public, you're expected to keep it out of the public eye. No photographs, no video and certainly no-one publishing on YouTube!!!

This engineer knew better, but was careless and let his over-entitled daughter publish it online. He violated multiple confidentiality agreements he would have agreed to in doing so.

SMH...seriously....I don't know how someone could really be THAT careless with their career.

Wrong. I have been in technology more than MOST in this forum. I have worked and have had to sign agreements for disclosure of new products as well. Most COMPANIES who do that, do not allow their products to leave the corporate office. And even so, Apple announced it before this video in the keynote. There were other sightings in public places of the X outside of Apple. So again, they are allowed to take them into the world (public).

 

[HallStevenson]

All Apple would have to do would be to show that both the father and daughter signed NDAs (yes, you need to sign one to visit), and then they both blatantly violated the NDAs.

What punishment did the girl receive ?

 

[DreamPod]

Why is this one issue with the girl posting it caused her DAD to get fired?

The relationship between the woman and the Apple employee isn’t important; what’s important is the employee blatantly broke Apple’s clear rules and NDA and let a member of the press film secret information in a location where filming isn’t allowed. Now, if there hadn’t been company secrets displayed in the video, just the phone being used, *maybe* he wouldn’t have been fired. But there it is.

 

[Pascal325]

The relationship between the woman and the Apple employee isn’t important; what’s important is the employee blatantly broke Apple’s clear rules and NDA and let a member of the press film secret information in a location where filming isn’t allowed. Now, if there hadn’t been company secrets displayed in the video, just the phone being used, *maybe* he wouldn’t have been fired. But there it is.

Again, it wasn't secret!!! Apple already had the keynote and tons of videos of the phones working were posted on youtube.

My guess, it wasn't that. It was because his daughter videoed on campus.

 

[DreamPod]

Again, it wasn't secret!!! Apple already had the keynote and tons of videos of the phones working were posted on youtube.

My guess, it wasn't that. It was because his daughter videoed on campus.

Apple’s keynote didn’t say anything about the secret projects displayed on that employee’s phone in the video.

 

[sledgehammer89]

Canceled my iPhone X order.

 

[deany]

What punishment did the girl receive ?

a 'back hander'.

 

[Pascal325]

Apple’s keynote didn’t say anything about the secret projects displayed on that employee’s phone in the video.

What secret project? I see nothing related to that.

You talking about this schedule invite?

 

[flat five]

Again, it wasn't secret!!! Apple already had the keynote and tons of videos of the phones working were posted on youtube.

My guess, it wasn't that. It was because his daughter videoed on campus.

there was a meeting labeled 'restricted' which showed up in his calendar notifications when his daughter pulled down the panel..

citing this guy:

...as the speaker with projects listed under code names..
pretty sure the dude's (Shishir Gupta) expression looked just like the above picture when he saw his meeting schedule pop up on youtube

 

[Pascal325]

there was a meeting labeled 'restricted' which showed up in his calendar notifications when his daughter pulled down the panel..

citing this guy:
View attachment 728898

...as the speaker with projects listed under code names..
pretty sure the dude's (Shishir Gupta) expression looked just like the above picture when he saw his meeting schedule pop up on youtube

Guess so. I never caught that before. But either way, really doesn't say much. lol

 

[myscrnnm]

What secret project? I see nothing related to that.

You talking about this schedule invite?

Look at 3:49 in the video.

 

[flat five]

Guess so. I never caught that before. But either way, really doesn't say much. lol

at 3:15

...
luckily it doesn't say much.. while it's talking about secret info, we don't have enough of it to know what it really is..
if we did know what was being spoken of, this guy would likely be in much more trouble.. possible legal trouble.

regardless, this is classified info being shown on youtube and is a clear violation of company policy.. regardless of what else is being said in the thread about how right or wrong his termination is... this one screenshot should be enough for everybody to understand the reason behind him being fired.

 

[DreamPod]

Guess so. I never caught that before. But either way, really doesn't say much. lol

She also showed the Notes app which apparently had a lot more secret project code names. And the video showed Apple-employee QR codes (dunno what those are for, but articles about this leak mention them as a secret Apple wouldn’t like released).

 

[deany]

NEWS FLASH

apple have a secret division, Oh surprise!, and the eBay scalping of the X this week is 'how to get iPhone to $2000 perceived value for 2018'.

 

[bambooshots]

The daughter has gone from 90 YouTube subscribers to 4K. That is worth money.

(I fell down the rabbit hole of her vlog the night the first video hit. An hour I’ll never get back. My critique would be harsh if I wanted to be "mean.")

Maybe this was her father's retirement plan all along.

 

[flat five]

pretty sure the dude's (Shishir Gupta) expression looked just like the above picture when he saw his meeting schedule pop up on youtube

also pretty sure that if he (Gupta) happens to read this thread, his expression is once again going to look like he does in that picture..
so, i'll stop now.
srry Shish

 

[alee]

Seems like a lot of folks here don't understand what it means to work in a company like Apple, or work as a business partner to Apple.

At the end of the day, you (or the father/daughter, or anyone) do not decide when it's ok to post online on your own. Apple does. You don't even get to say you're doing something for Apple if you're working as a supplier for Apple. This is not without precedent, and there's plenty of tidbits out there about it all.

Let's review some stuff that is public...

From Apple's employee handbook - pretty cut and dried here:
"You may not disclose Apple confidential information to an outside party unless a written agreement or license has been previously signed and approved by the division vice president."
https://www.technobuffalo.com/2011/...hes-employees-from-talking-about-the-company/

We also know from the GT Advanced bankruptcy how draconian Apple's contracts are for their suppliers:
"If GT breaks the confidentiality agreement, it will immediately be fined $50 million. Note that the reverse isn't true -- GT cannot fine Apple for leaking its sapphire manufacturing secrets"
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-supplier-contracts-and-confidentiality-documents-2014-10

"The supplier contracts require that suppliers not even mention Apple by name during the course of their daily operations. Instead, employees are given a code-name by which they are told to refer to Apple in conversation."
http://appleinsider.com/articles/14...s-code-names-security-requirements-fines-more

Finally about the culture and how NDAs are used internally... more importantly, it's very clear that for a violation, they'd just get fired:
""I don't really see the need for that kind of stuff because everything is NDAed [governed by a nondisclosure agreement] out the ass," one current employee told me. "You can be hired for a position where they don't tell you what you're working on beforehand, sure, but if they're choosing to hire you with your skill set, you might be able to hazard a guess on what it's about. It's a lot easier to have someone sign an NDA and then fire them if they violate it."

Indeed, multiple individuals I spoke to highlighted Apple's "generous" use of the NDA for projects, or parts of projects, or even parts of parts of projects. The point isn't just to hold employees accountable if information gets out, but also to serve as a constant reminder that Apple is watching. The attitude directly affects hiring—employees said that managers try to hire people who are clearly enthused about the job and about Apple, not the type who come off as someone who might leak right away.

"Everything we work on, there's a new NDA for," one engineer said. "If we had any questions about whether someone would be able to maintain confidentiality, we just wouldn't hire them. And if they did leak, they'd just get fired.""
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/201...engineers-to-fake-projects-as-a-loyalty-test/


Companies like Apple take this stuff seriously. Nobody is going to feel sorry for the person that openly violates rules. Everyone knows the rules.

 

[eoblaed]

I get the feeling there is more to this whole story.

There's nothing more to this story.

The instant I saw the original video, even before it finished, I knew that guy was going to get fired. Anyone that works in the tech industry with sensitive products also would've known it. It's really cut-n-dry.

 

[Count Blah]

Actually I do, and have for 25 years.

Ever have to sign an NDA? Did you let your YouTuber kid video the hardware/software/plans/technical specs/etc...?

The notion is just so ludicrous, as to not be believable, especially at Apple. There is LOTS of truth to the Jobs era of seeding fake info, to see where leaks were coming from, since security is so highly coveted at Apple.