Apple Tester Fired for Showing Wozniak iPad 3G

[johnb4467]

I was doing contract work for Apple for a good while, and when it was time for me to sign the NDA agreement, I asked my boss, "So, any main theme I should take from this?"
his response:
"Basically that, if you say anything, Apple will sue you out of existence...."

That may sound harsh, but they're a business, and their products do rely on a veil of secrecy...if for nothing else, for [considerable] buzz factor. While the stuff above-listed sounds extreme, I think that most companies that have so much to lose would do much the same.
I may be wrong though.

A Visual Effects company I worked at [before I was there] emailed a webcam single-frame image of something she was working on -- the FBI *literally* came in and took her away.
Big money companies don't fool around...and it's not just Apple.

 

[johnb4467]

I apologize -- that was supposed to read (in the last paragraph):
"...I worked at [before I was there], an employee emailed a phone-camera single-frame image..."

 

[cadder]

Apple is showing themselves to be lower than slime.

If they could control their egos they could do better, now they risk losing the goose that laid the golden egg.

 

[Guest]

Steve jobs just needs to shove a huge tallywacker into his poothole. Maybe he's a virgin.

 

[belardo]

NDAs, patents and company secrets are part of business.

Microsoft, Intel, SONY, Apple and even I would fire the guy.

That iPhone was worth thousands of dollars, he was testing it out and didn't take good care of it. It should only have been used at work and home.

 

[pharge]

here is an article on "wired" giving a little more information about this issue. (http/www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/04/steve-wozniak-on-apple-security-employee-termination-and-gray-powell/)

here are couple qoutes:
"Apple engineers who leak information and break their NDAs do it intentionally. They filter the information knowing that they are breaking their NDAs, betraying the confidence of their employer. That’s probably why this guy got fired on the spot."

"
It’s Steve Jobs’ honor code. Like Michael Corleone’s: A mistake can be forgiven, but he would kill his own brother for betraying the family. It doesn’t seem to matter that the act was harmless. More than leniency and humanity, respect for secrecy is sewn deeply into Apple’s culture."

 

[pharge]

By the way, is Wozniak in charged of anything in Apple beside getting paychecks from Apple and talk to Jobs once for a while?

Sounds like he does not have the clearence (at least from HR and Lawers' point of view) on the iPad project.

 

[nebun]

the tester did nothing wrong...he was allowed to take it the equipment out of the secure area...how is this breaking company rules?

 

[xrodney]

[citation][nom]downlinx[/nom]Apple one of the biggest jokes, why fire someone for showing the co-founder a product he was producing, this is such a joke.[/citation]
That and showing it even after official launch. I would say sue them.

 

[m-manla]

This can't be real. Woz help create Apple. Even if it wasn't after the lauch, which it was, he shouldn't have gotten fired.

 

[vic20]

While I understand that rules are rules and company's closely guard their future products, this is truly ridiculous. I pretty damn sure nobody would get fired for showing an alpha build of Windows 8 to Bill Gates, even though he's pretty much retired from MS.

 

[ksampanna]

I guess the Ipod remains Apple's THE cleanest invention.

 

[eddieroolz]

Real smart, Apple; fire your engineer, who then is able to speak out and share secrets with impunity because hey, he's not working for Apple anymore!

 

[mtyermom]

Wozniak: hey kid... let me see that ipad 3g!
engineer: Yes, Mr. Wozniak! Right away, sir!
Wozniak: Sucker....

 

[jamie_macdonald]

"engineer thought he was allowed to show it after April 3 (hence waiting until after midnight). Woz says he discussed it with Steve Jobs who said his being shown the iPad was, "No big deal." However, the employee was still fired"

surely that is not legal? ...fed up of this companies hypocrisy and complete disregard for common decency and freedom of use (using you OWN equipment how you wish). iv'e not had an apple product scince the i-pod (4th gen) and im glad to say i dont plan on having anything from them no matter how good the kit is ... completely ridiculous narsisistic company!!

 

[Guest]

all I can say is thank you to Sony Ericsson, they timed the release of the Xperia X10 just before I was about to sell my soul to get an iPhone

so at least now I can stick by my promise to myself 20 years ago when I first got into IT....

never give a penny of my hard-earned cash to Apple, they are scum of the highest order

that employee should now go to the newspapers and magazines and sell his story and then get a job for a rival company and divulge all he knows

cleary Wozniak is just a self-obsessed greasy little fat-guy who has no real friends and not a decent bone in his body

if I had been that employee I would have sought him out and landed one on his smug little piggy face

 

[reklatsa]

[citation][nom]kami3k[/nom]Oh go shove that stick in your ass farther up it.Yes how dare someone show a product to CO-FOUNDER OF THE COMPANY THAT MADE IT! Yes THW is so amoral because of reporting this, please do us all a favor and GTFO.[/citation]

No, THW is not amoral. The attitude of its readership is (largely) amoral. Normally, if someone breaks a great confidence the usual approach is to ostracise them. You would do that to a friend if they broke a valuable secret you had sworn them to keep.

During WWII Britain had secret groups of saboteurs called "Scallywags". These men and women kept hidden dumps of armaments in undisclosed locations and were to fight a guerilla war against Axis forces if they invaded Britain. The rule was that if anyone, and I mean anyone, discovered a Scallywag or their hidden cache (accidentally or otherwise) it was the duty of a Scallywag to kill that person immediately. That murder order included, your wife, mother, children, father, friends, another Scallywag from a different area..etc., No matter who they were, if they risked breaking the secret of the Scallywag guerillas they were to be killed immediately. How many people died this way is unknown and remains an official secret of the UK. That is what happens in war.

Apple are fighting a war with its competitors and people entrusted with valuable information should respect the wishes and interests of the company they are in the employ of.

This engineer lost his job for disclosing a secret. Part of his job remit would have been not to have discussed or revealed trade secrets with anyone other than his immediate design focus team. Can you comprehend that?

Gray Powell who "lost" the iPhone did not intentionally break his NDA or the company rules. Obviously Apple HR can determine what is an accident (foolish or otherwise) and what isn't.

There's no stick up my arse. But you are in the company of many here who seem to have had one pushed between their ears.

 

[Hilarion]

Let's see, a guy looses a new piece of technology from Apple Almighty in a bar and he is still employed but an employee who shows a piece of old gear to his boss is fired? This is the same logic they display in their approval/disapproval process on the Apple Almighty App Store. Inconsistent as all get out.

Go Apple Almighty. The cliff is approaching.

 

[Hilarion]

[citation][nom]Belardo[/nom]NDAs, patents and company secrets are part of business.Microsoft, Intel, SONY, Apple and even I would fire the guy.That iPhone was worth thousands of dollars, he was testing it out and didn't take good care of it. It should only have been used at work and home.[/citation]
The guy that lost the iphone still has a job according to this article. It was the employee showing his boss an already released item that got fired by the idiot boss.

 

[crom]

I liked Woz and Jobs much better when they were working for Bushnell at Atari programming Yars Revenge.