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Apple fires employee after daughter's iPhone X video goes viral
- Thread starter Dalek
- Start date
If he was good enough to work for Apple he should have no problem finding another job. I hope, for his sake and his daughter's. I hate reading stories about people losing their job.
this isnt an issue to be discussed he signed the nda he broke it. there is no "social justice" needed. its the rules of the contract hes lucky he wasnt sued by apple
What's wrong with signing NDAs? In the game industry signing an NDA lets a company show a prospective employee what they are working on before hiring them, or allows visitors, journalists and outside contractors access. In this case the guy got to take the phone home with him, that wouldn't have been able to happen without an NDA or a similar clause in his contract.
I mean you can hate capitalism all you want but I don't see how NDAs are the problematic part...
Sorry guys but this is just Apple being a bad employer. Yes they sign a NDA but end of the day Apple want these phones used like normal so they can learn so something like this occuring is also very predictable.
The employee did not do it on purpose and clearly they would prevent it occuring again. Apple gain nothing from firing.
The employee did not do it on purpose and clearly they would prevent it occuring again. Apple gain nothing from firing.
Apple are right to fire the guy for being so open to showing of the iPhone.
Originally on seeing the topic, I assumed the Daughter had nicked it and filmed a video, in which I would have felt bad.
Then I watched the actual vlog, and realised it was a vlog and he probably assumed that she would release her video post-launch, and felt bad for the guy.
But then I thought about how he still let her do it regardless, he may have had trust in her, he may have been enjoying owning the iPhone X and wanted to brag, but he should have just outright refused as it would be his responsibility and was aware of the NDA attached to it.
Imagine Christmas dinners now. "Here's a Samsung S3" - "Wow Dad, remember when you used to love me enough to get me better phones?" - "Remember when I had a job?"
Originally on seeing the topic, I assumed the Daughter had nicked it and filmed a video, in which I would have felt bad.
Then I watched the actual vlog, and realised it was a vlog and he probably assumed that she would release her video post-launch, and felt bad for the guy.
But then I thought about how he still let her do it regardless, he may have had trust in her, he may have been enjoying owning the iPhone X and wanted to brag, but he should have just outright refused as it would be his responsibility and was aware of the NDA attached to it.
Imagine Christmas dinners now. "Here's a Samsung S3" - "Wow Dad, remember when you used to love me enough to get me better phones?" - "Remember when I had a job?"
I feel sorry for him I really do and if It were up to me I maybe would not have fired him, but the company I work for has similar rules and would not hesitate to fire someone for breaking these rules, so as crappy as it sounds Apple are well within their rights to fire someone based on breaking an NDA.
But Apple does gain something in that it sends a message to be careful of violating your NDA, you can get fired for it. The next time someone is careless and violates their NDA, it could have a bigger negative result on the company. It's shortsighted to think this does nothing.
Did not do it on purpose? He was in the damn video. This isn't normal usage, or even forgetting it at a bar like that other employee many iPhones ago.
So they should sue him as well?
It happened in error and was not malicious. Im not saying no consequences but most employees arent going out their way to have a negative impact on the company. Just making them aware of what happened would probably lead to them making any changes required to behaviour.
As I say this is a predictable outcome and it wont be the last time it occurs. IMO the firing makes no change to that probability.
I'm not sure the guy deserved to lose his job over it. From what I saw it's just his daughter playing about with the camera and showing the phone off by playing with menus and stuff. I think if Apple had just given him a warning that'd be fair enough but I do understand why they are so strict. The guy is definitely at fault though. He should know what the rules are and what he's agreed to. I don't think there'd have been any harm in letting his daughter use it at the cafe but he should've known the deal with her recording it. Maybe she could've waited until after release to put it up? I don't know.
I hope he gets another job without bother. We all make mistakes.
I hope he gets another job without bother. We all make mistakes.
I agree. When we reach "star trek" levels as humanity (betterment of the species and no $$) that may be applicable, but the way the world economy is today, jokingbird's ideas/wishes are simply not realistic.
I guess her attempt at vlogger fame kinda worked out. Sucks for her dad, though. NDAs are pretty serious and I'm sure apple isn't fucking around with them after the whole gizmodo thing. Hopefully, this doesn't seriously affect his future job search and employers realize it was just a really bad fuck up, but it still looks bad.
"it's important to stress that this wasn't a garden variety iPhone X. As an employee device, it had sensitive information like codenames for unreleased products and staff-specific QR codes. Combine that with Apple's general prohibition of recording video on campus (even at relatively open spaces like Caffè Macs) and this wasn't so much about maintaining the surprise as making sure that corporate secrets didn't get out. Apple certainly didn't want to send the message that recording pre-release devices was acceptable"
This is the most important part.
She wasn't even supposed to be filming there yet she did it anyway.
This is the most important part.
She wasn't even supposed to be filming there yet she did it anyway.
Honestly, how can you be dumber than that? (speaking about both the girl and the parent, who let her use the phone in the first place)
I work with embedded systems, many of which are prototypes that are specialized for internal usage only. Releasing a recording like this is simply something you do not do. Ever. It's not some obscure gotcha. It's something plainly written out when you sign all the requisite legalwork before you're allowed to hear the broadest of details. It's something re-enforced with security procedures, something denoted on practically every piece of internal hardware, something reiterated on internal development webpages. I'm not trying to be vindictive, but there's a whole laundry list of rules that this employee is either somehow oblivious of (while somehow signing paperwork explicitly stating that they understand these rules), or is dismissive of.
The worst part is she doxxed her own dad in her own youtube too so really no tech company in the US will give him a chance after this.
It's that video which is like 1 minute and 30 seconds long? Totally not worth it. They barely showed anything. But it doesn't help that his father was showing it to other people and even using the phone's Apple Pay fucntion to pay for stuff.
I hope he can find a job soon, but his integrity must have been damaged. You just don't break NDA's like that, esp. from the biggest (tech) company in the world.
I hope he can find a job soon, but his integrity must have been damaged. You just don't break NDA's like that, esp. from the biggest (tech) company in the world.
Feels weird to side with the megacorporation, but yeah. Apple did no wrong here. NDAs and such exist for good reason.
Eh, it really says something about the glorification of consumer technology in today's society that;
a) He got fired for a first offence fuck up
b) So many of you are ok with this dude losing his livelihood for said fuck up
As people have said NDAs exist for good reason. This ain't it.
a) He got fired for a first offence fuck up
b) So many of you are ok with this dude losing his livelihood for said fuck up
As people have said NDAs exist for good reason. This ain't it.
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Apple has hundreds if not thousands of people doing the same that managed to follow the rules. It's a really simple rule as well. They can't let it slide.
Minimum wage workers get fired for ticky tack stuff all the time. It doesn't have anything to do with consumerism. It's not unreasonable to expect a professional to abide by an NDA. That's the entire point of signing one. That's why they have cause to fire him.
Nope.
He broke an NDA, I feel bad that he lost his job but come on you don't fuck around with NDA's.
A contractor did something similar at my workplace. It included diagnostic codes that resulted potentially millions of pieces of customer hardware being compromised. The contractor was fired and sued to oblivion.
Sometimes once is enough.
It was a recording of an internal piece of hardware(the iphone in this threads case). It's not crazy to think that compromising internal information might be exposed to public as a result.
There's room for nuance.
Tell my why NDAs exist and then tell my how this particular video contravenes any of those reasons.
It really wouldn't have been hard to send a company wide memo acknowledging this guy's mistake and emphasising the importance of adhering to NDAs and instituting a zero tolerance policy for further breaches.
Yes this is probably the biggest issue. Just glancing at the clip the drop down menu alone might have been enough to get in trouble.
lol. That alone could have been enough also.
It's not about being ok with him losing his job, it's understanding the situation. He should have been more careful. Told his daughter not to put it in a video.
This is one of the more striking metaphors I've seen for short term gains over long term losses.
My initial reaction is like a lot of other posters here; dude signed an NDA and it is a case of tough shit, but honestly this doesn't seem right when the phone is days from being in the hands of customers.
My initial reaction is like a lot of other posters here; dude signed an NDA and it is a case of tough shit, but honestly this doesn't seem right when the phone is days from being in the hands of customers.
Well, post-pending an NDA with something like 'except in instances where you personally don't think something bad will come of it' doesn't really work. The employee in the scenario you questioned the relevance of thought the little thing he made was neat and harmless, so they released it on the internet. Oopsies, I guess. Also, I assume their policy was already zero-tolerance, which is why he was fired.
Basically.
And how do we know they didn't already go that route years ago. Someone else probably got the get out of jail free pass already. Look how long Apple's been around.
I feel sad for him but there is no room for nuance in NDAs. I signed one for my current job and if I break it I will be fired.
It is easy to understand.
Given the history and organization size of Apple, it's more than likely this is one of the "further breaches", only it's brought to the internet because of the vlog. Didn't a poster mention hearing similar stories at workplace?
Nevertheless I hope the father learns from his mistake and lands on a new job.
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Hardly surprising given 1) Apple is very secretive and 2) Apple PR likes to control the narrative. (This of course applies to all companies, but Apple take it to another level)
Daughter and father broke the two commandments.
Daughter and father broke the two commandments.
The entire purpose of an NDA is to remove nuance. It's to provide a clear and legally enforceable ruleset for what you can and cannot share. It is a contract between the company and you personally, with clear laid out consequences for violating the rules. By it's very nature there is literally no room for nuance.
This is also likely not the first time someone has broke NDA at Apple, but typically it's not so public when they do. Sometimes just mentioning something offhand to a sales person/engineer from another company and it somehow getting back to your boss is enough. I have no doubt it's happened before and they've likely all gotten the memo once already, if not multiple times.
I've signed a few specifically relating to cell phones as well, and the clear consequences of leaking information is "You're fired".