Apple Sues Jon Prosser Over iOS 26 Leaks

[2128506]

Like jon. Go talk to a lawyer. Posting this is not helping your case lol
“You are not entirely blind here”.


I will take how to shoot one’s self in the foot for $500, alex

In other news: sleazy Youtuber tries to worm out of FAFO he caused by posting random stuff. He's fishing for some sort of internet outrage and support, but Anonymous days are over, bud.

This is really stupid, he should shut up and seek legal councel, sh**posting will not help at all, only make it worse for him.

He's done, Apple wants blood and seems to have a case.

 

[Cod3rror]

I feel like Apple's over secrecy is a bit outdated in the modern world. What are they are protecting? The same rehashed design? A slight upgrade?

Their philosophy of absolute secrecy and isolation is now harming them, as evident by their failure to produce their own LLM tool, which requires openness and constant, continues improvements with feedback.

 

[2128506]

I feel like Apple's over secrecy is a bit outdated in the modern world. What are they are protecting? The same rehashed design? A slight upgrade?

Their philosophy of absolute secrecy and isolation is now harming them, as evident by their failure to produce their own LLM tool, which requires openness and constant, continues improvements with feedback.

I'm as pissed off about Apple Intelligence as the next guy, but TF it has to do with corporate espionage?

Apple considers product design to be trade secret (and given track record, that worked for them, Samsung, hello!), it's their right.

 

[bsolar]

Anything is possible, but Apple says they have forensic evidence showing Ramacciotti called Prosser along with an audio message from Ramacciotti detailing the scheme to the Apple employee. They seem to have used FaceTime calls to communicate, which just adds to the stupidity of this group.

From what I understand the video call was Ramacciotti disclosing the secrets to Prosser: that is not necessarily illegal for Prosser.

Ramacciotti apparently claims Prosser conspired to obtain the information though: that would be illegal but doesn't add up with Prosser's post with their messages which pictures a Prosser unaware at the time.

 

[tim-apple-silicon]

He's Cook'd

 

[2128506]

From what I understand the video call was Ramacciotti disclosing the secrets to Prosser: that is not necessarily illegal for Prosser.

Ramacciotti apparently claims Prosser conspired to obtain the information though: that would be illegal but doesn't add up with Prosser's post with their messages which pictures a Prosser unaware at the time.

It's just a picture. It can be edited. People lie, especially when alternative is the career-ending lawsuit.

 

[bsolar]

It's just a picture. It can be edited. People lie.

That's true for Ramacciotti's statement too though.

Furthermore if it goes to court the actual messages will become evidence: would be very dumb to falsify something that is easy to disprove.

 

[JPack]

From what I understand the video call was Ramacciotti disclosing the secrets to Prosser: that is not necessarily illegal for Prosser.

Ramacciotti apparently claims Prosser conspired to obtain the information though: that would be illegal but doesn't add up with Prosser's post with their messages which pictures a Prosser unaware at the time.

"I admit I was in a FaceTime call with Ramacciotti, which was geolocated to the Apple employee's apartment. Then, I drank chocolate milk and ate raw oysters. In the middle of the night, I dreamt up the iOS 19 design, which coincidentally matches Apple's thinking! I swear it was a lucky guess! My posts prove it!"

 

[Nibo10]

B

In the US anyone can qualify as reporter, including private citizen operating as freelancers.

But are they protected in a court of law to the same extent, for example having the right to not reveal sources etc? It’s a genuine question.

 

[schappim]

Honestly sounds a bit odd, Apple suing someone? It’s usually always Apple getting sued by someone

Nicholas Ciarelli enters the chat.

 

[Dave245]

The amount of people in here who want Proser to be guilty just because of their personal dislike, is unreal . Time will tell, but innocent until proven guilty.

 

[moodler]

I'm not seeing any recognition here that it's sites like MacRumors and people like us posting here hungry for rumours that provide the impetus for people to do these kind of things.

 

[bsolar]

But are they protected in a court of law to the same extent, for example having the right to not reveal sources etc? It’s a genuine question.

Yes, although the right to not reveal sources itself is not absolute by any means.

Actually from the point of view of the Supreme Court it's the other way around: it's professional journalists that don't have any special protection compared to common citizens publishing information.

 

[Hart1583]

There’s really only 1 issue here:
Paying or offering to pay for company secrets

How I see it play out: If Jon did pay for it, and there is evidence, then he’s in deep water.
If there is no “pay to play” evidence, Jon is completely free.

 

[droplink]

You know, if someone stalks me, spies on me to get my passcode and then steals my phone that I think that is something worthy of a lawsuit.

But I know... "ERMAGAWD I am a JOurNALisM"

 

[Paddle1]

The amount of people in here who want Proser to be guilty just because of their personal dislike, is unreal . Time will tell, but innocent until proven guilty.

The problem is that Prosser has a history of being underhanded and dishonest, specifically with people he promises he's going to pay, so his word isn't worth a lot.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1899302377137782963

 

[JPack]

There’s really only 1 issue here:
Paying or offering to pay for company secrets

How I see it play out: If Jon did pay for it, and there is evidence, then he’s in deep water.
If there is no “pay to play” evidence, Jon is completely free.

Payment has little to do with whether it's an illegal act.

Someone who does it for purely ideological motivations would get off free? Of course not.

He took that trade info and disseminated it which again is unlawful.

 

[August11]

Apple's legal team is taking them for a ride, accepting and defending all these cases they know they can't win. It's not like he signed an NDA with Apple.

This is literally corporate espionage (if what Apple is saying is true) lol. Very much illegal.

 

[Ctrlos]

How do you know they didn't send him a cease and desist? Or maybe they didn't have enough evidence at the time to do such a thing, and once they figured out the depths of what Prosser did, a simple cease and desist wasn't enough.

At this point a C&D would be all that is needed to prevent future leaks. If Apple were that bothered about not having its secrets leaked it wouldn't be providing dummy iPhones for case manufacturers ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 launch seems to have more holes than swiss cheese.

What Apple is doing is a vindictive move designed as a warning to other bloggers for a product that is now in the hands of users anyway. Perhaps if they tightened their own security these leaks wouldn't happen? They're still sore about the 'Rot in Cupertino' article from earlier this year and are looking for their pound of flesh. All it will do it continue to sour the community even more regardless of who Prosser is or his tactics.

For a company like Apple to take such a low road just comes off as desperate. Especially as the product he leaked Apple provides as a freebie to customers so they're not losing any money anywhere. Whilst I might not agree with their protectionist strategies of the last few years I can at least understand where they're coming from in wanting to look after revenue streams but iOS26 doesn't make them any money.

 

[Wanted797]

Prosser is a news reporter? For what publication?

YouTube. It still journalism. You don’t have to work for a big publisher anymore. Move on from 2010.

 

[bsolar]

"I admit I was in a FaceTime call with Ramacciotti, which was geolocated to the Apple employee's apartment. Then, I drank chocolate milk and ate raw oysters. In the middle of the night, I dreamt up the iOS 19 design, which coincidentally matches Apple's thinking! I swear it was a lucky guess! My posts prove it!"

Not sure I understand you but Prosser publishing information Ramacciotti obtained illegally is not in itself illegal.

If Ramacciotti and Prosser both conspired to access Apple's information illegally and Prosser published it, they would be both guilty.

If Ramacciotti obtained the info from Apple illegally without Prosser's involvement and Prosser published it after Ramacciotti disclose it to him Ramacciotti would be guilty but Prosser would not.

 

[stocklen]

This is interesting.
Personally I dont like Prosser and the way he goes about things - dont watch his content as a result. Hes often so far of the mark - I remember the big deal he made a few years ago showing the new square flat Apple Watch which obviously never happened.

However, it does shine a light at the extremes that YouTubers are increasingly going to do for the desperation of content, "me first", and clicks and views.

Whereas I agree that Prosser himself is probably less of a 'leaker' than Gurman - Apple are very much in their rights to protect their IP and trade secrets and when things are leaked to such a degree it should be stopped.

Though Prosser cries foul - I can see them going to such extremes in order to gain this information and frankly its pretty appalling especially as the guy was a friend and they stole access without his knowledge and he lost his job as a result. Im sure Prosser didnt lose any sleep over that though.

Next stop surely has to be Gurman. Although hes often wrong hes also the one cited with the 'leaking' of mostly accurate info and therefore he must have a source working in Apple who is illegally leaking info.

 

[Pezimak]

Play the game and win silly prizes, a polite way of saying that lol. This is the risk you take when exposing corporate secrets and IP to make money off it, which is exactly what he was doing with his You Tube channel as he is sponsored. You cannot financially gain from a competitors product when you are stealing it.

So I fully expect him to lose and Apple demand a substantial pay out from him.

 

[Kylo83]

I hope it was worth the clicks, leaking at that scale is wrong and of cause there will be issues, also he has a history of not paying the right people

 

[JPack]

Not sure I understand you but Prosser publishing information Ramacciotti obtained illegally is not in itself illegal.

If Ramacciotti and Prosser both conspired to access Apple's information illegally and Prosser published it, they would be both guilty.

If Ramacciotti obtained the info from Apple illegally without Prosser's involvement and Prosser published it after Ramacciotti disclose it to him Ramacciotti would be guilty but Prosser would not.

Of course it's illegal. It's illegal in both cases. This misunderstanding is probably why you don't seem to fully understand the serious nature here.

The law looks at whether a reasonable person ought to know or conclude a trade secret was acquired improperly. Prosser then disclosed trade secrets without Apple's permission when he clearly knew or had reason to know that the information was secret.

This violates the Defend Trade Secrets Act. It's on the cover page of Apple's complaint.