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, teardowns 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 and 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've been this program
that caught 29 Apple leakers in 2017.
Worse 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 hype 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 cash. So thanks for watching guys, if you liked this video
give it a thumbs up, hit subscribe and be sure to hit us up in the comments section
with your ideas for topics that we should cover in the future.