Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Three People Sent to Prison in China Over iPad 2 Leaks
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
When people typically talk about slave labor they are not speaking literally. They generally mean to imply, that according to their perspective, the affected people are being grossly exploited. It simply doesn't matter what the Chinese standards are. What matters is whether or not first-world nations are grossly exploiting the third-world. Sure the third-world may be ok with it, but in all likeliness, if they are being exploited, they don't really have a choice to alter their cultural standards if they want to survive.
OMG just to leak a few photos , they get to spend so long in china prison (not like US prison), where they have to endure hard labour.
they better got enough money to bribe the prison guards, or they will be died.
That means that there will be no more leak from china in near future.
they better got enough money to bribe the prison guards, or they will be died.
That means that there will be no more leak from china in near future.
That's what I said. They don't NEED to make it their fight. The companies that assemble these products wants ROBOTS on the production floor. They will not tolerate any sort of transgression; they don't want there to be any perception or shred of workers' rights. That can only lead to further insubordination. Have you heard the rumblings lately of higher pay for factory workers in China? I'm sure the government isn't thrilled about that.
Only because it makes for bad press back home, just like this article has. But no matter, because it will have long been forgotten by the time we see the iPhone 5 or whatever.
Came up in the explosion thread and is always coming up.
People say a lot, but vote mostly with their wallets for the cheapest option.
They will not change unless forced or when there is no other option.
A few simple examples about what people do:
Last week I was at a walk for life event. Lots of posters about living healthy, eating healthy, all sponsored by HMO's and major corporations.
Walking around the booths were selling: pizza, hot dogs, hamburgers, sweet stuff for kids, deep fried funnel cake, sugary soft drinks etc. etc.
Not one piece of fruit available or any alternatives to junk food.
All the booths were crowded by fat out of shape people buying junk food.
Panera
--------
When you buy a baguette bread the whole grain variety is always left over and donated.
I guess people don't want healthy.
In summary, the few people willing to pay more for a locally produced electronic product are probably no more than 5%.
You really think that a bottom-rung factory worker in the USA would be jailed for leaking product photographs. OK.
It would cost more, and you wouldn't buy it.
If human rights mean so much to you, then I'm glad that you never have to do any shopping anywhere, as it all comes from China
You really think that a bottom-rung factory worker in the USA would be jailed for leaking product photographs. OK.
Are they trade secrets? Does it violate the Economic Espionage Act of 1996?
They may not be brought up on charges in their particular case, but the option is available to prosecutors.
No, they would write a book why they did it and go on a promo tour on all the talk channels, book stores etc..
Then ensues a discussion about labor practices in China, consumers in USA forcing "slave" labor upon developing nations etc.etc.
Its likely such statistics (e.g. Beijing or Shanghai vs NYC, LA, SF, etc) would make the crime in the US seem even worse. I've lived in several large cities around the world, Beijing being the largest and indeed the safest - extremely rare accounts of violent crime or crime against women, women comfortable walking alone at night, etc.
That's probably due to a overly harsh criminal justice system that some will admonish on human rights grounds, perhaps rightfully so, but its hard to take seriously anyone that thinks violent crime is a serious issue in Chinese cities (for common citizens).
Regarding this case, I agree with others in that the criminal knew legal system he lived prior to committing the crime. Also, some of the rumors of Chinese prisons here are fairly extreme; one should be aware of their own country's shortcomings before being overly critical (China certainly has problems, but wrt prison America is pretty dismal for a developed country).
You really think that a bottom-rung factory worker in the USA would be jailed for leaking product photographs. OK.
Yep. And it has happened.
I like how folks here talk like it's nothing. IT IS A CRIME. You think stuff just 'happens'? Companies spend millions of dollars on innovation, design, R&D. Before the iPad there was probably a million prototypes that just did not work. And then someone goes and simply takes the product of months of labour and leaks it out just like that.
So this person was an R&D employee. Not a peasant shipped from his farm to live in the big town, who gets bribed to smuggle pictures out. R&D means highly educated, well paid person, and a person whose job it is to develop things that become trade secrets.
In that position, the employee absolutely has to be trustworthy. He knew exactly what he was doing. He knew that for just $3,000 he was selling out his employer. He had to know that this would be highly damaging for his employer and for his employer's customer; it could have meant the loss of a major contract, huge loss of money, and many people losing their employment over that.
I'd say a prison sentence is well deserved. He was greedy, and he sold out the employer who pays his salary and his colleagues out of pure greed. He was also very, very stupid. I know that $3,000 in China is worth more than $3,000 where I live, but still, it isn't the amount of money that any sane person would risk their whole career for. Instead of a well paid job, he now faces jail time, plus no decent company will ever employ him again.
You really think that a bottom-rung factory worker in the USA would be jailed for leaking product photographs. OK.
Research and Development, not factory worker.
In China, some company bosses _did_ get death penalties in the fake milk scandal a while ago.
So what does a prison sentence for industrial espionage have to do with human rights?
Last edited:
He didnt ruin anybodys life, he just made other greedy people unhappy. Prison for leaking information about a toy? Rediculous.
i don't think anyone's saying they didn't "break the rules", nor are they saying they don't deserve to face the consequences. what people are disputing however is what those consequences are. crime and punishment isn't black and white. there are shades of grey within each category. five mph over the speed limit is breaking the rules but, of course, that doesn't mean any degree of punishment is acceptable. and that's what's being discussed here. does the punishment fit the crime? most people don't seem to think so and i have to agree. it kind of unnerves me that commodity plays this kind of role in our lives now.
China is a manufacturing country and they are obviously "sending a message" to protect that reputation. Harsh? Hell yeah.
Keep in mind this a country that will sentence a man to death and charge his family for the bullet.
Keep in mind this a country that will sentence a man to death and charge his family for the bullet.
These are not small people, if you read the report. It was a scam to get detailed corporate product info before release, create a fake product and sell it.
It is so odd to me, that people have and will complain, for years, about lack of piracy laws in China, from music to movies to clothing to products, yet when teeth are put into efforts to protect legally created and owned industry assets, there is a cry that prosecuting these people is excessive.
"A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apples iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday, AFP reports. The theft from a plant run by Foxconn, a contract electronics manufacturer, in Guangdong province late last year resulted in fake iPad2s being sold in China before Apples official launch of the product, the Guangzhou Daily said.
read the report
These were not bottom rung "anybodys". A manufacturing company paid to have details stolen, then made fake ipads and then sold them on the market. China is known for piracy and it seems instead of applauding one effort to crack down, you are attacking it and somehow defending corporate theft, piracy of product?
BEIJING A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.
"It's not a criminal offense in the United States. You would not go to jail here for doing this. You might get fired, you might be completely unpalatable to other employers, you might be sued, your career might be finished. But you would not go to jail for divulging trade secrets."
News from the BBC that Joya Williams, the secretary at Coca Cola who offered the recipe for, and samples of, a new product and on to Pepsi, has been jailed for 8 years. Pepsi refused to bite, and alerted Coca Cola and subsequently cooperated with the FBI. In sentencing Williams, District Judge J Owen Forrester said This is the kind of offence that cannot be tolerated in our society.
You really think that a bottom-rung factory worker in the USA would be jailed for leaking product photographs. OK.
These were not bottom rung "anybodys". A manufacturing company paid to have details stolen, then made fake ipads and then sold them on the market. China is known for piracy and it seems instead of applauding one effort to crack down, you are attacking it and somehow defending corporate theft, piracy of product?
BEIJING A court in south China has jailed three people for stealing the design to Apple's iPad2 tablet computer and using it to manufacture counterfeits, state press said Wednesday.
"It's not a criminal offense in the United States. You would not go to jail here for doing this. You might get fired, you might be completely unpalatable to other employers, you might be sued, your career might be finished. But you would not go to jail for divulging trade secrets."
News from the BBC that Joya Williams, the secretary at Coca Cola who offered the recipe for, and samples of, a new product and on to Pepsi, has been jailed for 8 years. Pepsi refused to bite, and alerted Coca Cola and subsequently cooperated with the FBI. In sentencing Williams, District Judge J Owen Forrester said This is the kind of offence that cannot be tolerated in our society.
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) Mobile/8J2)
We're all part of that mass who wants blood diamonds of info leaks and fuel these miners to put themselves at risk.
We're all part of that mass who wants blood diamonds of info leaks and fuel these miners to put themselves at risk.
I guess those claiming there is no penalty in the US for stealing trade secrets couldn't spare the 2 seconds it took me to google the topic and find the truth...
Now this is the most interesting perspective I've heard.
However, thinking about it... they didn't take the pictures for the sake of rumors... they took them for money and so that others could profit. We just happened to get the benefit of some early pics because of their stupidity and personal greed.