2024-03-28 20:23:45
Whenever rumors about new products from the Apple, it is inevitable to think about where that information came from. These sources can be varied, ranging from people who have contacts in the device production chain to others who are part of the company and are directly involved in the development of new products.
And it was exactly one person belonging to this second group that Maçã recently sued. According to the MacRumorsthe company entered this month with a process against the former employee Andrew Audein which it alleges that he violated confidentiality agreement and labor laws by leaking sensitive information to the media and employees of other companies.
The Cupertino giant asked for a jury trial and wants Aude to pay US$25 mil in compensation for damages. He joined the company in 2016 as an iOS software engineer shortly after graduating from college. The former employee also worked on optimizing battery performance — which made him, according to Apple, have knowledge of dozens of Apple’s most sensitive projects.
The company alleges that, over a five-year period, Aude used his company-granted work iPhone to leak information about more than half a dozen Apple products and policies. Among them are the (then unannounced) application Daily (Journal) and the Vision Proin addition to product development policies and strategies for complying with regulations, as well as data on the number of employees.
In April last year, for example, the engineer allegedly leaked a list of finished features of the Diary app to a journalist from The Wall Street Journal in a phone call. In the same month, it was published a matter in the vehicle about the app, including feedback from us.
Furthermore, he would have sent more than 1,4 mil messages to the same journalist using the Signal. Aude is also accused of sending more than 10 mil messages to another journalist, from The Informationwith whom he would have even met in person.
Check out a screenshot of Aude’s work iPhone with messages exchanged with “Homeboy”which is how he referred to the journalist from WSJ.
— I don’t know why so early.
—It seems absurd.
— Haha legal.
— I can’t wait for the chaos to happen before Apple executives even wake up.
— I don’t know why so early.
—It seems absurd.
— Haha legal.
— I can’t wait for the chaos to happen before Apple executives even wake up.
— I don’t know why so early.
—It seems absurd.
— Haha legal.
— I can’t wait for the chaos to happen before Apple executives even wake up.
In October 2020, again using his work iPhone, Aude would have revealed the development of what would become the Vision Pro to a person who did not work at Apple, even though he knew that its development was confidential. In the following months, other information was leaked, including about products that had not yet been launched.
For the company, the engineer’s actions were “comprehensive and purposeful”. He reportedly admitted that he leaked the information to “kill” products and features of which he was aware. According to the company, the leaks resulted in at least five news items containing confidential information, impeding the company’s ability to surprise with the launch of new products.
Conciliation attempts
Apple stated in the lawsuit that it discovered what Aude had done in late 2023 and that it fired him for misconduct in December of the same year. In November, however, the engineer denied in an interview that he had leaked confidential information to anyone.
However, as if the story wasn’t already anecdotal enough, Aude reportedly went to the bathroom during the interview. There, he deleted “significant amounts of evidence” from his work iPhone, according to Apple, including the Signal app he used to communicate with the journalist. WSJ.
In a separate interview in December 2023, the company claimed that Aude admitted to some of the leaks, although he only provided limited admissions to the information he was unable to destroy. The company also stated that it tried to resolve the situation without having to sue the former employee about a month ago, but he did not cooperate.
Due to the destruction of evidence, it is not possible to know precisely everything that was leaked and to whom it was revealed. The objective of the process, therefore, would also be to resolve this issue.
The former employee also allegedly refused to dispose of his restricted Apple shares received as part of his compensation package. The company then concluded by stating that the engineer represents a threat to the company due to his history of revealing information to third parties without authorization, in addition to his continued relationships with people in other companies and journalists and attempts to hide his actions.
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