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Three Foxconn Employees Charged With Leaking iPad 2 Design

Thursday April 28, 2011 6:40 am PDT by Eric Slivka

DigiTimes reports on an article [Google translation] from Chinese site sznews.com claiming that three Foxconn employees have been charged with leaking the design of the iPad 2 to accessory manufacturers well ahead of the device's launch.

Several online shopping retailers in China were able to sell iPad 2's protective case products before the iPad 2 was even launched, leading Foxconn to suspect that there might have been some employees leaking the design of iPad 2 which it reported to the local police.

The local police on December 26, 2010, arrested three employees that were suspected of leaking the design, and officially charged the three employees for violating the company's trade secrets on March 23, 2011, the reported added.

Cases for the second-generation iPad began appearing in early December, four months ahead of Apple's official unveiling in early March. Details on some of the physical changes in the new models, such as a larger speaker opening were detailed by late December, although not all of the features accommodated by the second-generation cases were positively identified until the device's introduction.

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[ 106 comments ]


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bdkennedy1
105 months ago
If you don't like the rules of your job, then quit. Otherwise suffer the consequences.

too bad 3 people will have to die in a chinese jail to protect apple's trade secrets (or rather, secrets that were intended to be revealed a few months later)

Rating: 8 Votes
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SBlue1
105 months ago
hey, they didnt know what intellectual property is. after all this is china, the land of the copycats. :)
Rating: 4 Votes
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tinman0
105 months ago

Oww that's so cute, you actually believe that all those workers in china that work for Apple are there by choice and can just quit and get another job somewhere else. Trust me you would not work in thier conditions.


And that somehow excuses their actions?
Rating: 4 Votes
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RawBert
105 months ago
I wonder how much these dudes got paid for the leaks. However much, it wasn't worth it.
Rating: 3 Votes
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tinman0
105 months ago

too bad 3 people will have to die in a chinese jail to protect apple's trade secrets (or rather, secrets that were intended to be revealed a few months later)


Yeah, fancy that, a nation that still believes in crime and punishment.

"Can't do the time? Don't do the crime".
Rating: 3 Votes
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ma5ter5
105 months ago
wow, insane that they were finally charged 3 months after being arrested...
Rating: 2 Votes
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kirk26
105 months ago
Sadly, since this is in China they might be put to death.
Rating: 2 Votes
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farmboy
105 months ago

Sure boss, because good paying jobs are so plentiful and easy to get I should just walk off my job whenever I get the urge... :rolleyes:

Any more words of wisdom for the masses Copernicus?


1. As adults, you're free to make your own decisions, stupid (like stealing) or brilliant, high risk or low risk, but you have to live with the consequences. Seems fair enough to me.

2. There are probably a million towns all over the world where there is a major employer and little else, including here in the USA, and people lack the means to relocate or the skills to get a different job. If you have a magic plan to make good-paying jobs available everywhere, please share, since it will be the very first time in the history of the planet.
Rating: 2 Votes
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tlevier
105 months ago
HumanCENTiPAD!

Anyone? No one?
Rating: 2 Votes
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gnasher729
105 months ago

You must be like me in the States but unlike me have not travel. I wonder if you will be singing the same tune as jobs dry up here and you can't get anything but the hamburger joint.

But don't get me wrong I am all for punishing poor people they do deserve what they get. (sarcasm just in case)


These people had jobs, and in their jobs they had access to information that they were told to keep secret. Well, I have a job, sometimes I'm told that something is secret, some stuff is generally not for people outside the company, so I keep my mouth shut. I don't tell people, and I most definitely don't sell information that I would get paid for. These people did. Since Foxconn has several hundred thousand employees, and three were caught only, I'll assume there are quite a few people working there doing very similar jobs without adding some money to their salary be committing crimes.


They solved the case fast. Probably lots of informers working at Foxcon. Or, they have no clue and merely arrested three hapless expendable workers in order to scare the rest.


It was obvious that information was leaked, because people started making accessories before they could have legally seen the iPad 2. At that point you do some detective work. At my place of work, we caught someone stealing a while ago. No "informers", just detective work. That's what happens when you commit a crime, sometimes you get caught. And what exactly do you mean by "informers"? If you see someone removing stuff, and next day you hear that stuff has been stolen from your company, do you tell the police? Rule of thumb: If anyone says "don't be a snitch", that is the first one who will rat on you if it helps them.
Rating: 2 Votes

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