Apple Security

[legion]

This is the price of those flashy product launches:

FOXNews.com - Inside Apple's Secret Manufacturing Plants

LONGHUA, China -- The massive manufacturing complex in the South China city of Longhua resembles an industrial fortress. To enter the facility, workers swipe security cards at the gate. Guards check the occupants of each vehicle with fingerprint recognition scanners.

Inside the walled city -- one of several compounds run by Foxconn International, a major supplier for Apple Inc -- employees are provided with most of their daily needs. There are dormitories, canteens, recreation facilities, even banks, post offices and bakeries.

The rank-and-file within the compound have little reason to venture outside. That reduces the likelihood of leaks, which in turn lessens the risk of incurring the wrath of Apple and its chief executive, Steve Jobs, whose product launches have turned into long-running, tightly controlled media spectacles.

Many of Apple's finished gadgets, from iPods to iPads, are assembled at industrial compounds like the one in Longhua. And when it comes to guarding Apple's secrets, Foxconn, a unit of Taiwan's Hon Hai Precision Industry, and other suppliers throughout the region leave little to chance.

"Security is tight everywhere inside the factories," said a uniformed worker outside the Foxconn factory in Longhua, about an hour from Hong Kong. "They use metal detectors and search us. If you have any metal objects on you when you leave, they just call the police," he said.
...
Apple's obsession with secrecy is the stuff of legend in Silicon Valley. Over the years, it has fired executives over leaks and sued bloggers to stop trade secrets from being exposed.

A tight-lipped ethos permeates working life, particularly in the run-up to the launch of a new device. Projects are siloed in carefully controlled work groups, rooms are guarded by strict key card access, and many have no firm idea about what even their colleagues in the same office are working on.

One former employee, who worked in the marketing department at the time of the iPhone launch, said workers understand that secrecy is part of Apple's mystique, and the silence is self-enforced at the most basic level.

"I didn't even talk about it with my wife," he said. "It's a culture of silence and it's just accepted. You get used to not talking about your work, it becomes normal because everybody is doing the same thing."
...
In China, a Reuters reporter found out the hard way how seriously some Apple suppliers take security.

Tipped by a worker outside the Longhua complex that a nearby Foxconn plant was manufacturing parts for Apple too, our correspondent hopped in a taxi for a visit to the facility in Guanlan, which makes products for a range of companies.

As he stood on the public road taking photos of the front gate and security checkpoint, a guard shouted. The reporter continued snapping photos before jumping into a waiting taxi. The guard blocked the vehicle and ordered the driver to stop, threatening to strip him of his taxi license.

The correspondent got out and insisted he was within his rights as he was on the main road. The guard grabbed his arm. A second guard ran over, and with a crowd of Foxconn workers watching, they tried dragging him into the factory.

The reporter asked to be let go. When that didn't happen, he jerked himself free and started walking off. The older guard kicked him in the leg, while the second threatened to hit him again if he moved. A few minutes later, a Foxconn security car came along but the reporter refused to board it. He called the police instead.

After the authorities arrived and mediated, the guards apologized and the matter was settled. The reporter left without filing a complaint, though the police gave him the option of doing so.

"You're free to do what you want," the policeman explained, "But this is Foxconn and they have a special status here. Please understand."
...
In another case that made global headlines last year, an employee in China for Foxconn was believed to have jumped to his death after being interrogated by his employer. According to local press reports, he was under suspicion of taking an iPhone prototype -- to which he had access -- out of the factory.

Doesn't sound to me like a company I'd like to be involved with, either as an employee or vendor.

[motion]

Its a tough wold out there. Probably just going to get tougher.

[stomachmonkey]

you think they are the only ones?

reality baby.

my company has had several product launches killed because some turd on the manufacturing line walked out with a finished game disc and it's on the torrent sites before the first manufacturing run leaves the factory.

when you spend a few million and a couple of years developing and marketing a product only to have it pirated before it's on the shelves you'll change your tune

[nostatic]

yeah, no other company is worried about industrial espionage or product leaks...

[dtw]

Militaristic corporate goons? In China? Say it ain't so. How could George Bush let this happen?