If someone were to break their NDA while employed by posting here, how exactly would Apple find out as long as you didn't put any personally identifiable information about yourself in your profile?
In theory, if one were to use proxies and stuff, they might be okay. Apple has people who just hunt for people leaking information, and they have their own methods (which I have no idea about.) A lot of people are dumb though, so it can't be that hard of a job for Steve's detectives. The iworkforapple blog guy was trying to be very careful, but he slipped enough details to narrow down exactly what store he was at and bust him. Between people being stupid, posting from work computers, and Apple's secret methods, there's a big risk of being caught. It's just not worth it.
Please clarify. Which of the following are prohibited by your employment contract, which are permitted but not recommended, and which are acceptable?
- Having accounts on Mac boards, even if you don't visit the site.
- Reading posts on Mac boards.
- Posting on Mac boards about Apple-employment topics. (We know this is prohibited.)
- Posting on Mac boards about inside information. (We know this is prohibited.)
- Posting on Mac boards about other Apple topics, like explaining to someone how to import photos, or other public knowledge.
- Posting on Mac boards about non-Apple topics, like what kind of car you have.
- Posting on computer boards that aren't about Macs, such as a PC site or an AutoCAD site.
- Posting on non-computer boards, like a site for NBA fans.
It's been a long time since I signed the stuff, so I don't remember the specifics. As far as I recall, they have no problem about you posting on non-computer boards, or even specific, software boards (autoCAD, 3DSMax), as long as you
never hint at who you work for. As long as you're true to this rule, posting in Apple's official boards are A-Okay. Being registered on an unofficial Apple board, or anywhere with any kind of speculation is a no-no. Our intents may be innocent enough (tell people how to use iPhoto, etc.) but they just don't trust us when there's pressure from the community. You may have noticed that one of the first questions for me in this thread went on about new displays/iPods/MacPros... and that's exactly the kind of thing that Apple doesn't want us dealing with at all.
My personal rule of thumb was just to never, ever have any evidence of where I work on the internet. No pictures, no locations, nothing. I'm a member of a few communities (SomethingAwful, for one), and none of them ever heard anything about where I work. On my podcast, I made up a fake bakery that my friends and I worked at. If I had a good story about the Apple store's patrons or co-workers, I tailored that story to work in a bakery. There's a lot of internet detectives out there, and the last thing I wanted to do was kill all of my accounts, just because somebody figured me out and decided to start asking about "widescreen touchscreen 100gb U2 iPods." It may be a bit of paranoia on my part, but Apple does a damn good job of scaring you about speculation on your very first day.
wants spacing between notebook lines so there won't be a 13"MBP or a 15"MB .. 
