Examining Apple's Carefree Attitude Towards Employee Privacy

Zoe Schiffer, writing for The Verge, investigates Apple employees and “the blurring of personal and work accounts.”

This is how it starts: a new Apple employee is told during onboarding that collaborating with their colleagues will require them to make extensive use of iCloud storage, and their manager offers a two terabyte upgrade. This will link their personal Apple ID to their work account — in fact, the instructions for accessing this upgrade explicitly say “you must link your personal Apple ID with your AppleConnect work account.”

How Apple Lobbyists Defeated Two App Store Bills in Georgia

Politico published a report on Friday that examines how lobbying from Apple defeated two app store bills in Georgia and other states.

Apple’s aggressive lobbying efforts in Georgia, the extent of which were previously unreported, highlight a pattern that has played out with little national attention across the country this year: State lawmakers introduce bills that would force Apple and its fellow tech giant Google to give up some control over their mobile phone app stores.

Then Apple, in particular, exerts intense pressure on lawmakers with promises of economic investment or threats to pull its money, and the legislation stalls.

A Spy Within Apple: The Story of Andrey Shumeyko, or ‘YRH04E’

Motherboard has published the story of Andrey Shumeyko, a double agent for Apple. He shared his story because he believes Apple took advantage of him.

Shumeyko said he established a relationship with Apple’s anti-leak team—officially called Global Security—after he alerted them of a potential phishing campaign against some Apple Store employees in 2017. Then, in mid-2020, he tried to help Apple investigate one of its worst leaks in recent memory, and became a “mole,” as he put it.

A really fascinating story.