Apple is reportedly forcing some of its employees to wear “police-grade” body cameras in an effort to stop them from leaking proprietary information.
Recently, the company stepped up efforts to stop internal info from appearing in the press. This is apparently the latest move.
Update: Mark Gurman from Bloomberg said on Twitter that there’s no truth to this report.
Obviously not https://t.co/yD0JbDld3b
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) June 30, 2021
Apple: You get a body camera and you get a body camera…
Certain Apple employees are required to wear a body camera similar to the the Axon Body 2, the same model used by many police, according to Front Page Tech. “The company has taken this new dramatic step to ensure that its hardware trade secrets stay out of the hands of leakers,” reports FPT.
The requirement allegedly applies to only certain product teams. Presumably, ones that have regular access to unreleased hardware. However, the story did not offer any details about how body cams might stop Apple leaks.
And, of course, the fact that a report revealing that Apple employees are being required to wear body cameras has leaked out is a strong indication that the move won’t stop internal company information from leaking out.
Cult of Mac asked Apple for comment on the report. We will update this post with any info we get from Cupertino.
Jon Prosser says ‘Apple is coming after me’
Also Monday, Front Page Tech’s Jon Prosser released a video with the typically hyperbolic title of “Apple is coming after me for LEAKS…”
In it, Prosser mentioned the body-cam rumor, but also discussed Apple’s other recent efforts to stop leaks. He said that while the First Amendment protects him as a journalist working in the United States, Apple went after a Dutch concept artist he worked with to produce renders of AirPods Max and AirTags.
Prosser also denied ever paying sources for the leaked info he shares via Twitter and his YouTube channel.
“I’ve never paid a source,” he said in the video. “No money has ever exchanged hands. No transactions have happened. And I’ve always made clear to employees that they are under no pressure to give me information.”
Apple hates leaks
Apple works hard to try to keep the designs of its future products under wraps. CEO Tim Cook warned employees in 2018 about harsh punishment for leaking Apple secrets. Most recently, Apple sent cease-and-desist letters to some noted leakers, including Kang.
But details of Apple products keep leaking out from inside the company. Apparently, some Apple employees can’t resist the urge to talk about what they’re working on with outsiders.
That’s slightly different from what analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, DigiTimes and others do. They draw information from sources within Apple’s component supply chain.
