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nikaru

macrumors 65816
Apr 23, 2009
1,123
1,396
Knowing the coditions in these fabrics, I cant blame this poor guy. Ofc they must fire him and improve the security measures but jail time is too harsh in my opinion. I hope that Apple will do the right thing.

Also, its a shame that in the 21st century people, and not machines have to do the asseambely and any related manufacturing tasks. If a robot is capable of doing brain surgery, it sure can assemble an iPhone.
 

Patriks7

macrumors 65816
Oct 26, 2008
1,419
624
Vienna
If devices like this were made in America, where checks are thorough, security is tighter and corporate espionage/knockoffs aren't as prominent perhaps this wouldn't have happened. Perhaps.

And also the price would start at the price of a Mac Pro. Perhaps.
 

Mike MA

macrumors 68020
Sep 21, 2012
2,089
1,811
Germany
Good catch, about time Foxconn put a stop to this corporate thefts.

With currently 1.2 Mio employees, they won't be successful with this.

It's rather interesting that the number of leaks is relatively small compared to the incredibly high number of people working over there. And even more, if you also take the high poverty of those workers into account.
 

juanrp

macrumors 6502a
Jun 14, 2014
591
40
Florida
Poor guy was probably desperate for the money. I hope he doesn't go to prison. Losing his job and having to face the shame of his family is sufficient punishment.

No it's not. He commited theft, which is a crime. Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

I'm pretty sure that if I went and stole a Mac pro shell from the factory, I'd get thrown in jail.

I don't feel bad for him, and I don't support him in this situation. He commuted a crime, let him get his punishment.

Also, don't ever be a judge/jury member. I'm pretty sure you would let a thief walk just because "having to Face the shame of his family" is enough punishment.
 

MacSince1990

macrumors 65816
Oct 6, 2009
1,347
0
He made 1000 dollars off it. That's how much they are really worth (you know, supply and demand). That's not petty cash. The BOM for the Iphone is $300 max, guess that's how much Apple should sell they them...

I think we both know the rear shell isn't worth $200 per piece. That would be one hell of a shell.

Better tell your employer right away that you don't mind stealing as long as YOU can put a low value on what you're taking. Low ball it and all's good...

While I personally never have, people take things from work all the time (pens, erasers, paperclips etc.)

Granted, this is a bit different.

----------

Yes he should.

Pretty dickish stance.

Also, China doesn't even follow its own laws.

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He didn't just steal five iPhone rear shells. If anyone at Foxconn gets caught stealing five iPhone rear shells today, they will probably just get a slap on the wrist. But nobody is going to steal them today, because nobody is going to pay $960 for them.

He stole five iPhone rear shells _before the product was released_. So we don't have just theft, we also have the matter of violating trade secrets. We have unfair competition if these shells were sold to a company making iPhone cases, and other case makers had to wait for the details.

While I don't disagree with any particular point you've made, it's still practically moot. Every iPhone release in recent memory (4, 4S, 5, 5S, 6/6+) have all been leaked. Watch was leaked. nMP was leaked. Apple may have doubled down on security nine times by now (if it were encryption it'd be 2^9/512-bit AES :p), but we all know it's meaningless.
 

WARRZONE

macrumors newbie
Sep 19, 2012
11
0
Foxconn is trying to scare their employees. The law enforcement authorities don't care about Company Code of Conduct violations. They only care if something illegal has taken place.
 

MacSince1990

macrumors 65816
Oct 6, 2009
1,347
0
The value of the plastic is nothing, but the value of the information they leaked is incredible. Stealing trade or inside secrets is damaging and doesn't promote a level playing field.

They gave a hand full of companies an advantage because of stolen stuff. Lets say it was a case company. They could end up making millions off the fact that they have had a design (that fits) on day one.

It's no different then insider trading. Should there be a fine ? Yes. Should there be jail time, YES!

You could argue that there was tons of leaks. Yes, and they will chase each one down. This is just the first, they will continue to catch more.

Like they've caught every other iPhone leak ever?? I don't get how you can trumpet a moral stand here about people leaking things on a site you visit to read about these same leaks. If that isn't compartmentalization, I'm not entirely sure what is.

Jail is just excessive for a first offense. Especially when they pay him so little he feels $900 is worth stealing for.

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Not at all.

Caught with 1 oz. marijuana in Colorado Apple Store: nothing
Caught with 1 oz. marijuana in Utah Apple Store: 1 year in jail and $2500 fine.

Are you going to complain to Apple if a guy gets caught in Utah?

No, because it isn't the same thing. Getting high isn't isn't part of the Apple supply chain.

I mean, Jobs used to smoke a LOT, but that wasn't part of his job description. Somehow though if he'd been caught in Utah, I think you'd have been wearing a Free Stevey T-shirt.
 

kushibo

macrumors newbie
May 30, 2012
24
0
Honolulu, Hawaii
Citizens of the world most poorest country having 18 trillion debt think the citizens of the world most richest country having 1.4 trillion us treasury bond are slaves. Isn't it funny?

That's merely public debt, and nowhere close to the measure one would use when determining the richness or poorness of a country.

China has $22 trillion to the US's $46 trillion.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-...l-asia-as-world-wealth-tops-150-trillion.html

Sadly, both countries concentrate that in the hands of few such that it cannot benefit a wide range of people. Go to China and go just a couple miles outside its shiny showcase business centers: It is poor, very poor. This is why Chinese people flock to jobs like Foxconn, and why people like Mr Qiao will risk their freedom to sell photos to websites that will post "this is the next iPhone" story.

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Like they've caught every other iPhone leak ever?? I don't get how you can trumpet a moral stand here about people leaking things on a site you visit to read about these same leaks. If that isn't compartmentalization, I'm not entirely sure what is.

Jail is just excessive for a first offense. Especially when they pay him so little he feels $900 is worth stealing for.

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No, because it isn't the same thing. Getting high isn't isn't part of the Apple supply chain.

I mean, Jobs used to smoke a LOT, but that wasn't part of his job description. Somehow though if he'd been caught in Utah, I think you'd have been wearing a Free Stevey T-shirt.
Is stealing parts and selling photos of them part of the supply chain now?
 
Last edited:

Xian Zhu Xuande

macrumors 6502a
Jul 30, 2008
941
128
All the more impressive that the watch wasn't leaked.

Probably much easier to select a small group of trusted individuals and subject the manufacturing to stringent surveillance and security. You can't scale that sort of thing to millions of units.
 

s2mikey

Suspended
Sep 23, 2013
2,490
4,255
Upstate, NY
Foxconn employees are detained everyday..... In their underpaid, overworked slave labor jobs that they have no choice but to take due to china being a third world country.
 

/dev/toaster

macrumors 68020
Feb 23, 2006
2,478
249
San Francisco, CA
Like they've caught every other iPhone leak ever?? I don't get how you can trumpet a moral stand here about people leaking things on a site you visit to read about these same leaks. If that isn't compartmentalization, I'm not entirely sure what is.

Jail is just excessive for a first offense. Especially when they pay him so little he feels $900 is worth stealing for.

First off, $900 might seem little to you but to those workers that is about 2 months salary. Let's look at it in relative terms. The median household income in California is $61,632. 2 months salary is ~$10,000. That's a good chunk of money. Especially to a factory worker.

What do you think about insider trading ? Do you think that someone who leaks stock tips that could allow their friend to make millions of dollars deserves only a slap on the wrist ?

Leaking IP is leaking IP, it's a very serious charge.
 

rdlink

macrumors 68040
Nov 10, 2007
3,226
2,435
Out of the Reach of the FBI
Are you an expert in the field? Who cares if it's a little more expensive. I rather have the money and jobs in our economy.

If by "expert in the field" you mean have I read up on the subject, and am I reasonably intelligent person, yes.

If you were to actually do some research, instead of living in the "****** yeah! 'Merika! mindset, you would know that the reason most companies stopped manufacturing things like iPhones in the US is not really purely about labor costs.

American labor probably wouldn't add that much incremental cost to the devices. The problem comes from manufacturers who are not nimble or flexible enough to turn on a dime, and ramp up and down at the same pace as Asian companies.

Is American labor more expensive? Yes. But Apple could recover that for less than $30-$40 a unit, and their customers would lap it up. The real issue is that it would take much, much longer to go from the lab to the store with their product.
 

rGiskard

macrumors 68000
Aug 9, 2012
1,800
955
Qiao is now in a world of hurt. In China his punishment will probably be totally out of proportion to his crime.

It would be nice if Apple used their influence to ensure relatively lenient punishment - this being China, "relatively lenient" would be loss of his job and community service, maybe prison time if he shows no remorse.

Many American iPhone users will be buying cases that are available at the time of the iPhone release because of people like Qiao, so we do benefit from his rather petty crime.
 

pacfolly

macrumors member
Mar 5, 2010
47
0
Poor guy. I certainly don't feel bad for Apple in this case since while they definitely value product secrecy, they should also value the humans that make their products. Yes, of course shareholders come first but that doesn't make sweatshops any more ethical.

He still ended up making less than he should have for months of work, and now unfortunately he's going to pay for his temporary escape from near slavery :(
 

gnasher729

Suspended
Nov 25, 2005
17,980
5,565
Qiao is now in a world of hurt. In China his punishment will probably be totally out of proportion to his crime.

He stole something, and was paid $960 for the goods. Bizarrely, Wikipedia states that in California law "Grand theft is committed when the value of stolen property exceeds $950". So in California this would be Grand theft and a felony. Again according to Wikipedia, in some states of the USA repeated theft can lead to a life sentence.

With salaries and cost of living so much lower in China, $960 is about two monthly wages, which is probably equivalent to $10,000 in California. You won't get away lightly for stealing $10,000 in the USA.
 
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