Three People Sent to Prison in China Over iPad 2 Leaks

[kdum8]

Do they jail US Apple employees for leaks?

I'd hate to be in a Chinese prison for any duration.

Frankly it is a toss up given the choice. The US has some of the worst jails in the world, and locks up far more of its people than almost all other developed countries. It has been said many times that you can tell the true level of social development of a country by looking at its jails...

 

[hobo.hopkins]

I dont know, but being imprisoned for anything but a violent crime seems overly harsh to me.*

* Of course, this is not the way most governments, including the U.S. government, see it. But I beg to differ.

That just isn't a feasible option. Too many people would commit crimes that are non-violent if prison wasn't a deterrent.

Honestly, if Apple were really a great company, they'd build their hardware in countries that respect human rights. Yes, it would cost more. Think different.

The latter portion of this quote explains why that isn't a viable option in reality.

In the US they would get probation, maybe house arrest for a month if this was their first offense. If they were union employees, no arrests but they would probably get suspended for two months (with pay).

With the inflated rates of most union workers it wouldn't be economically feasible for any company to mass-produce anything inside the United States. Not enough people would be willing to pay the eventual higher costs. A company has to make money, or it can't survive. A company can't just ignore that. Otherwise it becomes a non-profit organisation.

 

[Anaemik]

Wow, this is such ********. This is so far away from a proportionate response that it's not even funny.

While it is yet to be known how much input Apple had in this outcome, if it transpires that they pushed for a prosecution knowing this could be on the cards then I'd lose just about any respect I ever had for them as a company.

 

[inkswamp]

USA still has the death sentence. I'd be very careful with comparisons.

The USA is made up of 50 largely independent states (some of which are as big as other countries) and each of which has its own laws about the death sentence including some that have banned its use. I'd be very careful using a broad brush on a country as big and diverse as the US.

 

[steve_hill4]

Agree completely. I too have brought this up in the past and usually get flamed for it. Add an option on the BTO page for this "other" version and I'll gladly pay $50 more or whatever the amount is (within reason of course).

(Pulls out old LCIII and caresses the 'Made in Ireland' label on the underside).

Apple could make them ethically and keep the prices about the same, but it would drastically eat into profit margins and that would make the shareholders unhappy. China has moved to a capitalist dictatorship at the behest of the west who saw the country as a great place to use legalised slavery to build their goods and increase their profits. We're in too deep to really get out of it fully now.

Half of the west is also in debt to Chinese banks. Even if these companies wanted to gain a conscience, I don't think they could now.

 

[chrono1081]

Do they jail US Apple employees for leaks?

I'd hate to be in a Chinese prison for any duration.

This isn't Apple this is Foxconn and yes, people in the U.S. do get sent to jail for leaking company secrets.

 

[lemoncrsh]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_3 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8J2 Safari/6533.18.5)

"What are you in for?"
"I emailed a pic of the next iPad"

FML

 

[steve_hill4]

The USA is made up of 50 largely independent states (some of which are as big as other countries) and each of which has its own laws about the death sentence including some that have banned its use. I'd be very careful using a broad brush on a country as big and diverse as the US.

Yes, while it's banned in some states, others are still happy to execute those who couldn't afford proper legal representation and/or are mentally retarded (although I understand this may be taking a slight turn for the better). The land of the free doesn't apply to all I'm afraid.

 

[AidenShaw]

How long before Gen X and Gen Y decide that "Apple isn't cool"

This isn't "cool", Apple - no more than knocking down the door of someone's house over a lost telephone.

If the younger people (you know, the ones who spend their days at the Apple store updating their Facebook pages) figure out that Apple is really "the man" - 50% drop in stock value at the start.

Apple will fall faster than Mubarak....

 

[twilson]

Honestly, if Apple were really a great company, they'd build their hardware in countries that respect human rights. Yes, it would cost more. Think different.

But they'd still send people to jail for leaking confidential trade secrets, so I fail to see how this is actually relevant.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

I'm surprised so many people consider this a particularly harsh punishment.

It really doesn't sound bad to me at all. They broke the rules, they deserve to be punished, end of story.

 

[0815]

Well, China is a very tough country on laws.

Perhaps they agreed to this when they signed their NDA contract?

The punishment is not part of the specific NDA contract ... thing is they broke the local law and get the punishment according to that law. Might be harsh, but that is the local law and they knew that before they accepted big cash for leaking the information (and therefor breaking the law). They knowingly took the risk and got busted.

 

[steve_hill4]

This isn't Apple this is Foxconn and yes, people in the U.S. do get sent to jail for leaking company secrets.

Yet their corporate bosses rarely get their comeuppance for committing much more heinous crimes of financial misdealings, breaking pollutant regulations etc.

I'll get off my high horse for now.

 

[cmaier]

I dont know, but being imprisoned for anything but a violent crime seems overly harsh to me.

So I ruin people's lives in any of a myriad non-violent ways (blackmail, fraud, theft, arson, burglary, robbery, identity theft, invasion of privacy, false imprisonment, extortion, embezzlement, environmental contamination, etc.) and you'll just give me a kitten, a pat on the back, and send me on my way?

 

[Will do good]

This is a multi-billion dollar industry, with trade secrets that can worth hundreds of millions or more.

Do you think stealing trade secret is ok?

Do you think it's like stealing a CD?

 

[Consultant]

Honestly, if Apple were really a great company, they'd build their hardware in countries that respect human rights. Yes, it would cost more. Think different.

China builds just about all the electronics in the world.

However Foxconn is looking at Brazil and other countries to build future factories.

 

[0815]

The USA is made up of 50 largely independent states (some of which are as big as other countries) and each of which has its own laws about the death sentence including some that have banned its use. I'd be very careful using a broad brush on a country as big and diverse as the US.

Ok does this sound better: Parts of the USA still have death sentencing and the national government is tolerating this instead of banning it nation wide.

 

[iPhoney:)]

USA still has the death sentence. I'd be very careful with comparisons.

And China doesn't?!

 

[cmaier]

Ok does this sound better: Parts of the USA still have death sentencing and the national government is tolerating this instead of banning it nation wide.

You might want to go read the Constitution and see what it says about the ability of "the national government" to "ban" things "nation wide."

 

[baryon]

Yes it would be better if Apple didn't have to make things in China. However, this isn't a perfect world and it would not be profitable for them to manufacture elsewhere. If you look at it this way, China is overpopulated, so I bet all those people need jobs. Apple is creating jobs for many of them, which is a good thing. If Apple didn't do it, they would probably end up in another factory under the same or worse conditions.

On the other hand, however, I don't think going to prison for leaked images is fair at all. Especially not for this long! I mean wow. A fine or getting fired would have been plenty. Some people in the government steal tons of money from taxpayers and all they get is bad reputation.

It's always the small people that get punished the most.

 

[porky]

Macrumors needs rumors like that! We should collect some money to get them free

 

[Benjamins]

On the other hand, however, I don't think going to prison for leaked images is fair at all.

I don't think it's just for leaked image, there is bribery involved too.
In a way they got off easy, in China you can get death sentence for Bribery.

 

[0815]

You might want to go read the Constitution and see what it says about the ability of "the national government" to "ban" things "nation wide."

It is still amazing that government sponsored killing of civilians can be legal. Anyway, before anybody in the USA points the fingers at the jurisdictional of other countries, they should have a close look at their own system, which is partially stuck in a cruel wild west past.

 

[*LTD*]

Now I'm hungry for Chinese food.

Yes. I'll have some YooGotouJ . . . ah forget it.

 

[logandzwon]

Agree completely. I too have brought this up in the past and usually get flamed for it. Add an option on the BTO page for this "other" version and I'll gladly pay $50 more or whatever the amount is (within reason of course).

The head of Foxcom has spoken about why he has no US plants. He sees the problem as law suits. It's too unpredictable to run factories in the US. You can have a few good years, make a bunch of money, then have turn around and be sued out of more then everything you have.