Three sent to prison in China over iPad 2 leaks

A Chinese court has sentenced three people to prison for collaborating to steal information from Foxconn about the iPad 2 before it was unveiled to the public. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Shenzhen Bao'an People's Court found that the general manager of MacTop Electronics Company illegally offered a Foxconn employee 20,000 yuan, or about US$3,000, plus discounts on MacTop products for information on the iPad 2 last September. The Foxconn employee then paid another Foxconn employee who worked in the research and development department for digital images of the iPad 2's back cover.

Cover accessory manufactures can typically make a killing if they have their covers for new Apple devices out the day the new product ships, which makes information, such as the dimensions of a new iOS device, very valuable. The general manager of MacTop was sentenced to 18 months in prison and fined 150,000 yuan. The two Foxconn employees were sentenced to 14 months and 13 months, respectively, and fined 100,000 yuan and 30,000 yuan.

There was no word on how the investigation led to the three employees, but Foxconn did issue a statement saying, "We cannot comment on matters of internal security, but Foxconn takes its commitment to protecting its intellectual property as well as that of its customers very seriously and undertakes all appropriate actions to safeguard against any violations."

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Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405270230349920457638…

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A Chinese court has sentenced three people to prison for collaborating to steal information from Foxconn about the iPad 2 before it was...

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Really?

Oh come on, all these people did was try to make cases a little earlier than anyone else. I can't imagine it had any effect on Apple's sales of the iPad 2. What a sad world we live in that believes this constitutes taking away someone's freedom and ability to be with their kids and wives/husbands because of photos taken of a mere electronics device a few months before it's due to be released. Fine them if you want to prevent it, but how sad to know where the importance lies in today's society, it's with an iPad rather than a person's freedom. Clearly they would have understood the risk they were taking in providing the pictures, but understand that they did this for $3,000. That may be laughable to some, but that's probably close to half of their annual salary. Don't make their life more difficult by hitting them with a 4 fold fine and imprisonment for 1-2 years. How sad...

June 18 2011 at 10:34 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Joshua Hughes

They will enjoy playing WoW in prison more then building iPads out of prison. Better food too.

June 16 2011 at 5:28 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

MetallicAfan

Haha Chinese law/prison is much more harsh than other countries....

June 16 2011 at 12:20 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Marasmus

Rather mild reaction. 10 to 20 years in prison would've been more like it. Providing Samsung with information used to make the Galaxy Tab thinner 4 months early, causing Apple and shareholders to lose millions in sales ... Not good.

June 16 2011 at 4:08 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

3 replies to Marasmus's comment

aperak fungisid

iPad criminals. you go to great chinese people's communist party Mao Tse Tung re-education camp. you be good apples.

June 16 2011 at 3:15 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply