Apple fired the father of the viral YouTuber

[iMi]

She’s really sweet and the father must be a good man to have raised a child that loves, respects and appreciates him the way he does.

As for Apple, I am disappointed. Typical corporate behavior. Let’s put things in perspective. The phone was already announced. She didn’t reveal any secret information. The product her father helped develop for Tim and company will generate billions in revenue. To discard someone for a simple mistake is heartless and says a lot about the culture at Apple.

What harm has been done here? None... FaceID demo was far more damaging to Apple’s product and reputation, if you ask me. It sure played a role in me choosing the 8 Plus over the X.

So, either there is more to this story (something else lead to his dismissal) or Apple is overreacting and treating this person and his family harshly and unfairly.

 

[djkinetic]

She’s really sweet and the father must be a good man to have raised a child that loves, respects and appreciates him the way he does.

As for Apple, I am disappointed. Typical corporate behavior. Let’s put things in perspective. The phone was already announced. She didn’t reveal any secret information. The product her father helped develop for Tim and company will generate billions in revenue. To discard someone for a simple mistake is heartless and says a lot about the culture at Apple.

What harm has been done here? None... FaceID demo was far more damaging to Apple’s product and reputation, if you ask me. It sure played a role in me choosing the 8 Plus over the X.

So, either there is more to this story (something else lead to his dismissal) or Apple is overreacting and treating this person and his family harshly and unfairly.

Might be heartless but that is how corporations work for the most part.

 

[ZipZap]

She’s really sweet and the father must be a good man to have raised a child that loves, respects and appreciates him the way he does.

As for Apple, I am disappointed. Typical corporate behavior. Let’s put things in perspective. The phone was already announced. She didn’t reveal any secret information. The product her father helped develop for Tim and company will generate billions in revenue. To discard someone for a simple mistake is heartless and says a lot about the culture at Apple.

What harm has been done here? None... FaceID demo was far more damaging to Apple’s product and reputation, if you ask me. It sure played a role in me choosing the 8 Plus over the X.

So, either there is more to this story (something else lead to his dismissal) or Apple is overreacting and treating this person and his family harshly and unfairly.

I agree. Heartless.

 

[rarebeauty]

She’s really sweet and the father must be a good man to have raised a child that loves, respects and appreciates him the way he does.

As for Apple, I am disappointed. Typical corporate behavior. Let’s put things in perspective. The phone was already announced. She didn’t reveal any secret information. The product her father helped develop for Tim and company will generate billions in revenue. To discard someone for a simple mistake is heartless and says a lot about the culture at Apple.

What harm has been done here? None... FaceID demo was far more damaging to Apple’s product and reputation, if you ask me. It sure played a role in me choosing the 8 Plus over the X.

So, either there is more to this story (something else lead to his dismissal) or Apple is overreacting and treating this person and his family harshly and unfairly.

Rules are rules though. And if they let it go for him, people will feel like they may be to able to get away with it too. So although it’s unfortunate, I agree with their decision.

 

[alee]

She didn’t reveal any secret information

It specifically contained codenames for unreleased products, and employee names.

Bottom line - he hands over the phone to his daughter, not thinking about what was on his phone - all of which is Apple company property. He showed blatant disregard for protecting confidentiality in that video, and let her film knowing fully that it's not allowed.

 

[Spink10]

I guess that answers the question of whether the original video was a marketing ploy.

Link to the original video she posted?

 

[iMi]

Rules are rules though. And if they let it go for him, people will feel like they may be to able to get away with it too. So although it’s unfortunate, I agree with their decision.

Rules are rules when it’s convenient. He’s a person. They could have warned him and put him through training. To fire someone in this situation is unreasonable in my opinion.

This is precisely why I do not work in corporate. No, thank you.

As for rules, do you think Tim Cook or Jonny Ives would have been fired if they did the same? I doubt it...
[doublepost=1509235966][/doublepost]

Link to the original video she posted?

It was taken down by the daughter after Apple asked her to do so...

 

[flat five]

Link to the original video she posted?

see post #86

(that's not the original.. she pulled the original..others apparently copied then re-upped)

 

[Spink10]

It was taken down by the daughter after Apple asked her to do so...

I am sure there is someone that downloaded it? Basically asking if it can be found anywhere.
[doublepost=1509236073][/doublepost]

see post #86

(that's not the original.. she pulled the original..others apparently copied then re-upped)

Sweet! Thanks

 

[alee]

As for rules, do you think Tim Cook or Jonny Ives would have been fired if they did the same? I doubt it...

The Apple board of directors voted to fire Steve Jobs in 1985.

 

[NovemberWhiskey]

I feel badly for the father. He probably had no idea his daughter was going to cost him his job trying to get Youtube famous.

Really? She’s filming using a camera he bought her. He’s showing off a pre-release device on camera. He knows she has a YouTube channel. They are filming on Apple campus. As an employee with a pre-release product he has signed NDAs.

He knew. He overestimated his importance. In the original video you heard him brag to the cashier about how he did Apple Pay on the X.

This is more his fault than the daughters. He is the adult. He is the employee.

The only good thing about this situation is maybe these stereotypical people will do less shopping at lululemon and anthropology and putting videos of those activities online as if anyone needs to see it.

 

[artfossil]

It specifically contained codenames for unreleased products, and employee names.

Bottom line - he hands over the phone to his daughter, not thinking about what was on his phone - all of which is Apple company property. He showed blatant disregard for protecting confidentiality in that video, and let her film knowing fully that it's not allowed.

And I "heartlessly" understand his getting fired. Apple engineer working on Apple Pay letting Apple Pay be videoed before release + proprietary meeting details on his lock screen + handing it over to an unauthorized person + videoing the unreleased phone + videoing in Apple headquarters = really stupid, stupid, fireable offenses.

He does appear to be retirement age to me. I’m sure he will have a comfortable financial life whether he works again or not.

 

[myscrnnm]

I’m not sure how they were unaware of the rules. Even we know it was against Apple policy. Also, she should be the one taking responsibility since she’s the one who made the video and posted it.

I would say in this situation both of them share equal responsibility for the outcome. Yes, she was the one who made the video and posted it on a public forum. But as an Apple employee, it's also his responsibility to take any measures within reason to prevent and potentially confidential information from being leaked. He was right there as she was filming her video and providing commentary. As someone who works in the technology sector, he would have been aware that she was making the video for her vlog.

 

[rarebeauty]

[doublepost=1509236587][/doublepost]

Link to the original video she posted?

This isn’t from her page but it was reuploaded by someone else. Here’s the link:

 

[flat five]

He looks like a really nice guy.

he looks like who i imagine to be engineering these phones
(i think he works on things like NFC)

probably smarter than most people around here even though a seemingly lopsided amount of people are saying how dumb he is

 

[HallStevenson]

Violating a NDA is not as small an offense as some of u think.

They're not a violation of 'law' so no one's getting arrested/serving jail time. At most, a company could sue the person in civil court and make up how they were "damaged". In this scenario, no court or jury is going to rule against him for a) a video that his daughter published and b) for showing a phone that's been publicly announced and demonstrated.

 

[alee]

They're not a violation of 'law' so no one's getting arrested/serving jail time. At most, a company could sue the person in civil court and make up how they were "damaged". In this scenario, no court or jury is going to rule against him for a) a video that his daughter published and b) for showing a phone that's been publicly announced and demonstrated.

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. They're both guilty. He knows it already. She's in denial.

 

[bambooshots]

She’s really sweet and the father must be a good man to have raised a child that loves, respects and appreciates him the way he does.

As for Apple, I am disappointed. Typical corporate behavior. Let’s put things in perspective. The phone was already announced. She didn’t reveal any secret information. The product her father helped develop for Tim and company will generate billions in revenue. To discard someone for a simple mistake is heartless and says a lot about the culture at Apple.

What harm has been done here? None... FaceID demo was far more damaging to Apple’s product and reputation, if you ask me. It sure played a role in me choosing the 8 Plus over the X.

So, either there is more to this story (something else lead to his dismissal) or Apple is overreacting and treating this person and his family harshly and unfairly.

Lol. And what would Steve Jobs have done if he were still CEO? Everyone here loves to bring up his name when it comes to product design. But that's only one facet of running a corporation.

 

[quietstormSD]

Yeah a little harsh there Apple. The video actually helped you. I’m sure the dude and his family will be ok. I mean look at the original video, not like they were living by his paycheck to paycheck. Well then again maybe they were

 

[iluvbeer99]

Apple had to fire him, he left them no options. No way they can set a precedent by letting employees get away with stuff like this.

Also, it was 100% his fault. It's not her responsibility to know what her dad is/isn't allowed to do. She doesn't work there. He knew better and got fired for violating the rules.

That said he seemed like a nice guy and I wish the best for him. The daughter seems like a good person as well. I don't get why everyone is being so negative towards her.

 

[Juan007]

I have worked at HW companies of similar scale, this is common sense. Everyone knew the policies related to pre-release HW, there were always several levels of secrecy, from most secret to least:

Highest - Device doesn't leave room, room access is restricted to folks working on said device.
High - Device doesn't leave building exposed, must always be covered, can be used in home if no family members work at competitor, doesn't go on airplane (due to TSA risk of exposing to other passengers).
Med - Device can be used briefly in public but caution must be taken, allowed on airplanes, don't expose in public except when necessary.
Low (usually when device has been announced but not launched) - Device can be used in public, make effort to avoid photos / videos, don't talk to press about device (always!), don't let anyone outside the company touch the device.

Now Apple is famous for being insane about security, to the point where engineers don't even know what device they are working on, engineers working on fake devices, etc. I 100% guarantee you that Apple has security policies spelled out and made clear to all employees and they make it very clear the consequences for violating those policies. Apple security policy makes other companies in the valley look like kindergarten, they are (in)famous for what they will do to protect device secrecy. Everyone knows this, it's no secret.

This guy should have known the consequences (maybe he ignored them, maybe he forgot), there is no excuse.

 

[iMi]

It specifically contained codenames for unreleased products, and employee names.

Bottom line - he hands over the phone to his daughter, not thinking about what was on his phone - all of which is Apple company property. He showed blatant disregard for protecting confidentiality in that video, and let her film knowing fully that it's not allowed.

Let’s take a business case approach here.

Code names for unreleased products are useless without knowing anything about the products themselves.

Nothing was revealed.

Now, having an engineer that worked on those secret products now looking for a job with a competitor will be a much bigger problem.

I’ve seen a non-disclosure dispute in action before. It’s very difficult for a company to win those cases. He will get a new job by Monday and he could well end up competing with Apple.

Again, I think it’s short sighted and harsh. It’s okay for us not to agree

Now... if he was the engineer responsive for the “notch” then to hell with him!

Lol... just kidding.

 

[hank moody]

Apple had to fire him, he left them no options. No way they can set a precedent by letting employees get away with stuff like this.

Also, it was 100% his fault. It's not her responsibility to know what her dad is/isn't allowed to do. She doesn't work there. He knew better and got fired for violating the rules.

That said he seemed like a nice guy and I wish the best for him. The daughter seems like a good person as well. I don't get why everyone is being so negative towards her.

This.

 

[alee]

I’ve seen a non-disclosure dispute in action before. It’s very difficult for a company to win those cases. He will get a new job by Monday and he could well end up competing with Apple.

Sorry... this isn't just a he said, she said thing... there is a video that clearly shows him violating the NDA (with complete disregard to the terms of his agreement), and a date stamp on his phone to show it was a breach before first customer shipment (FCS). This guy is tainted - nobody wants someone that can't respect an employer agreement, and the fact that his daughter just went on the Internet to tell everyone dad got fired isn't going to help him.

This wasn't just an accident. He clearly let it happen, and he knows it.

 

[artfossil]

Code names for unreleased products are useless without knowing anything about the products themselves.

Nothing was revealed.

Let’s ask the people whose names, meeting info and project names were revealed how they feel.