Apple employees fired for downloading leopard
Written by Ernesto on August 24, 2006Several Apple Retail employees were fired after downloading a copy of the “Leopard OSX 10.5 preview” that was leaked on several BitTorrent trackers last week.
Apparently Apple’s headquarters was not pleased with these pirates. After being confronted with the rumors, the alleged pirates readily admitted that they had breached the non-disclosure agreement.
However, this [...]
Several Apple Retail employees were fired after downloading a copy of the “Leopard OSX 10.5 preview” that was leaked on several BitTorrent trackers last week.
Apparently Apple’s headquarters was not pleased with these pirates. After being confronted with the rumors, the alleged pirates readily admitted that they had breached the non-disclosure agreement.
However, this honesty was not appreciated by Apple. One of the fired employees told to Think Secret:
“All of us know that we violated our NDA and ethics policy. Therefore, because we had the character to tell the truth and to face the consequences of our actions, we were terminated. My only question is, if we all lied and denied it would we still be working at Apple today? Even more so, is that the kind of person that Apple wants working for them?”
The full version of Leopard OSX is due in spring 2007.
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19 Responses
This was a stupid move by Apple.
They were building up their reputation but more things like this and it could be as bad as microsoft. (Though they do make great operative systems)
They are not stupid, they just can’t understand between honest people and not. And that’s the way the world turn right now. Honest people stay in the shit, liar stay in the first place. Next time we can say, Never trust honest people.
Yeah, I’m sure Apple wants honest thieves working for them.
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Very stupid by Apple
[quote comment="10604"]Yeah, I’m sure Apple wants honest thieves working for them.[/quote]
… Couldn’t the people that downloaded Leopard, lied to Apple stating that they were only downloading this Pirated version of Leopard for promosional purposed only…? It’d make sense. But on the other hand, If I were Steve Jobs, I wouldn’t want liers working for me. Id’ rather have honest people working for me.
But that right there doesn’t make sense. They told the truth, so that’s one hell-of-an employee. Id’ want him working for me. I don’t want someone that lies, and then is cought later on.
… Whatever. Not a good move on Apple…
Just a moment, there is something which makes me anxious:
It looks like the people who downloaded the OS and then admitted it, expected to be rewarded for their sincerity by not being fired.
Does it mean that if we steal something, we can expect to avoid consequences simply because we admit stealing?
Will it aply to murder as well?
because we had the character to tell the truth and to face the consequences of our actions, we were terminated
the faced the consequences of their actions which was of course being fired… and their complaint is?
This is unfortunate. I totally disagree with this. We all make mistakes, it’s okay for Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniac to have made a blue box which was a felony and for Steve Jobs to have done LSD when they were both attending UC Berkley, however if any one else makes mistakes throw them out. Come on Apple you pay those guys at the Mac store 10.00 dollars an hour to start and the Mac Genius get paid not much more. I am sure that they were just trying to learn Leopard so they can be better prepared when it’s released. You would thing that Apple would be generous enough to give them free developer subscriptions to make up for the low pay, and encourage them to learn. What kind of near sightedness is this?
These employees were not just downloading Leopard, they were also uploading it, that’s just how bittorent works.
admitting u are wrong does not make u any less wrong.
these guys are probably not very important to Apple anyway, or they would have Leopard on their machines.
It’s not called a non-disclosure agreement for no reason. It was agreed to by these very employees not to disclose information on not-yet-released products, standard for all apple employees. NDAs and Non-Compete agreements are widely used throughout the corporate world. So an employee admits to having breached the agreement. What gives? I say, kudos to apple to holding them to their end of the contract, furthermore CHARGE THEM with piracy and disseminating a highly copyrighted software product!
Lets not forget that Apple used to fly the pirate flag with good reason.
how did apple screw up? they made the employees do what was right (admit to their mistakes) then they made them accep tthe consequences (being fired)…where did apple go wrong? just cause they work for apple means they should be immune to stealing apple stuff? come on! thieves are thieves! fire them!
Firing them wasn’t vindictive of Apple, just a policy decision. If they didn’t fire them, what message are they sending? If you do pirate software and are honest about it, you are at least a “known case” of dishonesty in the company. I figure they just want to eliminate all dishonesty, whether it is known or unknown. The fact that their policy will probably cause more dishonesty is just an alternative to the massive dishonesty that might occur if they condone it. Hoping instead to curtail dishonesty from borderline employees who might be on the piracy fence.
[quote comment="44223"]Just a moment, there is something which makes me anxious:
It looks like the people who downloaded the OS and then admitted it, expected to be rewarded for their sincerity by not being fired.
Does it mean that if we steal something, we can expect to avoid consequences simply because we admit stealing?
Will it aply to murder as well?[/quote]
**********************************
Dude, don’t be a douche…downloading software and murder are on two totally different sides of the morality spectrum..this is the kind of thinking that got everyone worked up after 9/11…personally I wouldn’t have said jack…NEVER say more than you have to..study up on your 48 Laws of Power people…It’s a different world out there!
Well this does seem to be a touchy topic with people from both sides. Well the got caught downloading ok so they are pirates for gahering software. But if they uploaded then they violated. It says they admitted to downloaing did any of them say they uploaded and posted it. Now this has to be considered aswell. But they got cauht stealing and should be puished. They could face charges if hey admit to uploading and disributing the software.
Does anyone remember how Apple and Microsoft got started. They went up to Xerox PARC offices and “stole” all of what is Windows and Apple software today. Xerox was so naive and let them in for a friendly visit to see what they had accomplished, too bad Xerox did not have their inventions copyrighted back then. This is part of PC history and I believe Xerox PARC has a museum of all this, though I have never seen it.
If the shoe fits wear it.
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