When I started writing for. Back in 2013, Apple leaks were extremely rare. Eight years later, we often know everything there is to know about the latest iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac weeks before the official reveal. Apple hasn’t had much luck protecting its trade secrets in recent years, but according to a new report from The Information, the company is tightening security at its factories in a bid to stop leaks.
The Information said Wednesday that it obtained an internal document from Apple outlining the changes being made to its factory safety guidelines for each manufacturing partner. The document allegedly says that while those partners can no longer collect biometric data such as fingerprints or facial scans from Apple employees, this new rule does not extend to factory workers. As The Information points out, this appears to contradict Apple’s human rights policy, which supposedly includes “business partners and people at all levels of its supply chain.”
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This is one of the many changes Apple is making to clamp down on the rampant leaks that have plagued the company in recent years. For example, manufacturing partners are now required to perform criminal background checks on every assembly line worker who comes in contact with any unreleased Apple hardware. Those found to have a criminal record will be barred from entering factory areas where unreleased devices are being assembled.
Apple is also updating computer systems at several of its factories to more closely track the amount of time a product must be in one station before moving on to the next. If an important component remains in one place for too long, alarms will sound so managers can be notified of the delay.
In addition, factory guards will need to “keep detailed records of the movement of workers transporting sensitive parts from one area to another”, visitors must present government-issued IDs to enter the factory, security cameras must capture the four sides of the transportation vehicles entering the premises, and any video that “shows the destruction of prototypes and defective parts” must be retained for at least 180 days.
Apple certainly has every right to do whatever it deems necessary to protect its intellectual property, but the timing could have been better, especially considering how open the company has been about protecting consumer privacy, especially in recent months. . That same sense of urgency that led Apple to bring privacy labels to the App Store and force app developers to ask iPhone and iPad users if they want to be tracked apparently doesn’t apply to people who assemble those same products. they were designed with privacy. in mind.
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Jacob started covering video games and technology in college as a hobby, but quickly realized that this was what he wanted to do for a living. He currently resides in New York writing for .. His previously published work can be found on TechHive, VentureBeat and Game Rant.
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