we've seen it time and time again there's a big upcoming tech release but
before the product officially drops leaks galore start popping up online
giving away specifications pricing and even what the gadget is supposed to look
like but how does this happen so much especially with high profile items like
graphics cards and smartphones the manufacturers obviously sign employees
vendors and reviewers to non-disclosure agreements and have money to spend to
keep upcoming products under wraps so what gives a lot of the answer comes
down to just how many people have to do their part in keeping a product secret
sometimes it's just an employee of the manufacturer itself being careless
infamously an apple employee left an iphone 4 in a bar before it was released
and before apple could do anything about it tear downs of the device were all
over the internet more recently google's pixel 3 xl was left in the back of a
lift prior to its release with tech blogs being all too happy to repost the
images of the phone that the driver sent them but even if no employees are being
careless tech firms rarely produce everything in-house instead they rely on
outside manufacturers and suppliers to assemble the finished product meaning it
only takes one person on an assembly line somewhere to leak a new gadget
indeed some have been caught in the past trying to sell yet to be released
products on the black market on top of this it isn't just the factory making
the new phone or tablet or whatever that the manufacturer has to worry about many
high profile electronics have many accessories made for them by other
companies who are given designs for the upcoming product to work off of for
example the news about the iphone 7 not having a headphone jack first broke
because of a leak out of a factory that made phone cases and people noticed
there was no cutout for a wired pair of headphones to go in then you have folks
who are careless with product information that aren't even part of the
supply chain typically you see this with technology reporters and reviewers who
agree to embargo dates meaning they're contractually obligated not to release
any information before an agreed-upon date and time however sometimes
embargoes are broken because someone wants to get a scoop or simply
by accident so with all these potential security holes can companies do anything
about leaks other than firing any employees responsible or ending
relationships with tech reviewers who violate embargoes one good example of a
major leak prevention program can be found unsurprisingly at apple which
operates a worldwide loyalty team these
are undercover employees embedded in certain product groups to monitor the
flow of information and it might have been this program that caught 29 apple
leakers in 2017. we're still for would-be leakers is that 12 of those
people were arrested as stealing trade secrets and intruding upon a network are
crimes so people that leak on purpose for notoriety or a payday could be
looking at consequences more dire than just losing their job but there's one
question we haven't yet answered why do companies care so much about stopping
leaks in the first place well part of it is that companies like to cash in on all
the hype produced around official launch events and having an unauthorized link
could temper excitement and ultimately sales if everyone already knows what's
coming manufacturers also fear product leaks could give their competition a leg
up by letting them know what an upcoming product or even a prototype will be like
and giving them time to respond with an offering of their own however there's
also been speculation over the years that some leaks have actually been
intentional exercises and height building by the companies themselves so
it might end up being pretty hard to figure out how and why a specific leak
happens so remember take everything with a grain of salt and wait for official
specifications and official reviews before plunking down your hard earned
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