While I did not deal with Apple specifically, I did however deal with another major mobile phone corporation — at that time — and i’m sure most of you have heard of them: Research In Motion, RIM, BlackBerry, etc.
This was during a time, my guess is 2008-2010, when forums, unreleased product leaks, and blogs were a very big business and leaks were lucrative to everybody. As a BlackBerry user myself, I found myself spending a lot of time in the old Crackberry.com forums, which happen to have a lot of RIM employees, insiders, and also black market dealers. I’ve soon found myself in contact with people who were passing me (!) information — just an anonymous forum poster.
After a while, I’ve gained the trust of some of my sources and things started to get a little different. Instead of just information, I was getting files of unreleased BlackBerry OS for products that weren’t even released at the time. [0]
Eventually I was given the opportunity to gain access to unreleased devices. Without mentioning any specifics, just in case, let’s just say these phones were like hot potatoes. If you were lucky, the device PIN hasn’t been blacklisted — meaning no BBM, service, your phone is now a brick — by RIM after they notice its missing. How long it’d continue working for was a mystery. Some would go for weeks, others would be dead by the time it arrived in the main. The one thing you wanted to look for? The “Property of Research in Motion Limited” sticker on the back. [1]
But to get back to it’s relevance, I would sometimes learn from the sellers how these phones got out of the building without being noticed and there were a few ways.
1. Metal detectors and x-ray machines: In some areas, employees would have their bags and body scanned by security and this was one of the easiest, yet terrifying option of getting products out of the building. Along side the x-ray machine, there would be a gap between that and the wall. When you walk up to put your stuff down on the belt, just slide the phone down the side and grab it on the other side. With this you’re only doing 1 phone at a time.
2. Windows: Some of them would open so all you had to do was open the window and .. drop the phone down into the bush below. Pick it up after work and nobody can check.
3. Retailers: As with anything, it’s not what you know but who you know. If you’re becoming friends with your manufactures rep, you can get easy access to some gems. Mind you this was all being done in Canada so these phones were being handed around like drugs.
4. Self smuggling: They would just stick phones, shells, etc. in their pants and try to walk out without alerting security and/or bypassing it.
Granted this all was before security tightened up and well before RIMs eventual downfall. While some of it may seem far fetched, let me tell you one thing: if you’re going to deal in unreleased phones, don’t use their phones built-in messaging system (BBM) to conduct business.. Because a nice fella from the security team at RIM will give you a call on your personal cell phone one late night and tell you that they know what you’re doing and to stop it.
So I stopped that night.
—
[0]: RIM was notorious with changing product code ames and they also had multiple numbering schemes for GSM, CDMA, or international models (ie os v9.5 for 9200 would be the GSM version but v9.5 for a 9220 is the CDMA version).
> Because a nice fella from the security team at RIM will give you a call on your personal cell phone one late night and tell you that they know what you’re doing and to stop it.
I don't know if anyone else has this reaction, but I find this to be a great alternative to the litigiousness that is normally reported.
> So I stopped that night.
...and good on you for allowing "not suing" to be a successful option. (I'm taking no position on the behavior BEFORE you got caught, but once you were, you didn't "force" them into more extreme options)
Seems a bit in the clouds. The poster knowingly took ownership of stolen property and got a warning over it. Stopping after you're caught doesn't right your wrong.
> Stopping after you're caught doesn't right your wrong.
Nope! I still remain happy to see that something gets stopped without legal action, and seeing a company that didn't go for the throat succeeding in their defense.
Just because a wrong isn't righted doesn't mean we can't be happy the situation didn't get worse.
A refreshing view. So many people seem to emotionally need some sort of social vindication of their injury, or in some other way feel dissatisfied if there isn't third-party shaming/punishment/etc. involved in conflict resolution.
Sometimes, the best approach is "Yo, can you cut that out?"
Somehow I think if the poster conspired to steal your own cell phone, you'd feel differently. What about a shoplifter at Target? You're implying that companies prosecuting theft are somehow morally inferior to RIM.
> Somehow I think if the poster conspired to steal your own cell phone, you'd feel differently
I'm not sure I would, depending on what you mean.
Would I be more upset about someone conspiring to harm an individual as opposed to taking investigative actions that MIGHT harm a company by spreading information? Yes.
Would I feel that someone stopping their conspiracy to steal my phone when I caught them and called them out wasn't enough? Probably not. There was bad, it was stopped, that's still a good ending.
Would I be nervous that whoever was so conspiring wouldn't just stop when asked? Yes, admittedly. But that doesn't mean that harsher punishments actually fix that.
Bit of a straw man isn't that? Your one single cell phone is a bit different from one of hundreds of prototypes not owned by anyone in particular or even intended for sale.
There was a super interesting article in the New Yorker a few years ago about the smuggling of unreleased albums out of CD manufacturing plants back in the day. Your experiences remind a lot of that:
Very nostalgic! The article gets most of the history right. I believe kali formed HNA which merged into RNS. Being a computer nerd, I think having pre-released albums in school was the only time I felt cool.
Back around 2012 I was an intern at BlackBerry. My team had some test BlackBerry 10 devices, one of which I was using for my work. One day, I left for a late lunch or something and when I returned my test phone was gone. I looked everywhere wondering if I had misplaced it somehow or a team member took it. But asking around no one knew. A brief aside on our office layout: imagine a few closed door offices and meeting rooms along the walls with a large space in the middle. In that large space was a bunch of cubicles. I worked in one of those cubicles and the office right behind me was my director's office.
In any case, I told my manager what happened and things moved on. A couple years later I got a call from a police officer who wanted me to give a statement and possibly testify in court; they had a suspect. Eventually, I think they took a plea deal or just pleaded guilty and so I didn't end up going to court.
Were they smuggled out of RIM 4 (ie. the Factory)? Or from the main office building? From memory of the building layouts this is possible, but I never bothered to try.
While I did not deal with Apple specifically, I did however deal with another major mobile phone corporation — at that time — and i’m sure most of you have heard of them: Research In Motion, RIM, BlackBerry, etc.
This was during a time, my guess is 2008-2010, when forums, unreleased product leaks, and blogs were a very big business and leaks were lucrative to everybody. As a BlackBerry user myself, I found myself spending a lot of time in the old Crackberry.com forums, which happen to have a lot of RIM employees, insiders, and also black market dealers. I’ve soon found myself in contact with people who were passing me (!) information — just an anonymous forum poster.
After a while, I’ve gained the trust of some of my sources and things started to get a little different. Instead of just information, I was getting files of unreleased BlackBerry OS for products that weren’t even released at the time. [0]
Eventually I was given the opportunity to gain access to unreleased devices. Without mentioning any specifics, just in case, let’s just say these phones were like hot potatoes. If you were lucky, the device PIN hasn’t been blacklisted — meaning no BBM, service, your phone is now a brick — by RIM after they notice its missing. How long it’d continue working for was a mystery. Some would go for weeks, others would be dead by the time it arrived in the main. The one thing you wanted to look for? The “Property of Research in Motion Limited” sticker on the back. [1]
But to get back to it’s relevance, I would sometimes learn from the sellers how these phones got out of the building without being noticed and there were a few ways.
1. Metal detectors and x-ray machines: In some areas, employees would have their bags and body scanned by security and this was one of the easiest, yet terrifying option of getting products out of the building. Along side the x-ray machine, there would be a gap between that and the wall. When you walk up to put your stuff down on the belt, just slide the phone down the side and grab it on the other side. With this you’re only doing 1 phone at a time.
2. Windows: Some of them would open so all you had to do was open the window and .. drop the phone down into the bush below. Pick it up after work and nobody can check.
3. Retailers: As with anything, it’s not what you know but who you know. If you’re becoming friends with your manufactures rep, you can get easy access to some gems. Mind you this was all being done in Canada so these phones were being handed around like drugs.
4. Self smuggling: They would just stick phones, shells, etc. in their pants and try to walk out without alerting security and/or bypassing it.
Granted this all was before security tightened up and well before RIMs eventual downfall. While some of it may seem far fetched, let me tell you one thing: if you’re going to deal in unreleased phones, don’t use their phones built-in messaging system (BBM) to conduct business.. Because a nice fella from the security team at RIM will give you a call on your personal cell phone one late night and tell you that they know what you’re doing and to stop it.
So I stopped that night.
— [0]: RIM was notorious with changing product code ames and they also had multiple numbering schemes for GSM, CDMA, or international models (ie os v9.5 for 9200 would be the GSM version but v9.5 for a 9220 is the CDMA version).
[1]: https://recombu-content.imgix.net/app/uploads/13578-M11755-1...