Apple attaches great importance to data protection in the public domain.
But employees in supplier companies are exempt from this.
You have to put up with a lot.
Cupertino - In public, data protection is a big issue for Apple.
Apple CEO Tim Cook wants to stand out against data-hungry competitors like Facebook or Google.
But the IT group measures its suppliers with a completely different standard.
According to a report by the IT news site The Information, Apple has drastically tightened secrecy among its Asian suppliers such as Foxconn, Wistron or Pegatron with their around one million employees.
Apple's fight against leaks: supplier employees have to undergo a background check
All employees who work with Apple products that are still under development are affected.
If they are dealing with secret hardware, the employer must subject them to a more detailed examination.
In a background check, among other things, a criminal record should be searched for.
If they find what they are looking for, the employee is no longer allowed to enter the affected areas of the factory.
Apple's fight against leaks: video recordings of prototype destruction must be saved
If an employee has passed the background check, many more hardships await him.
It must be possible to record it when transporting sensitive components across the factory premises.
This is intended to monitor the movement of individual components more closely in order to prevent them from disappearing for a short time, for example to take photographs.
Vehicles parked in or in front of one of the factories must be monitored from all sides by cameras.
Of course, visitors must always have an official ID with them.
Apple is also asking its suppliers to improve their surveillance systems.
Video recordings of the destruction of prototypes or defective parts must be stored for at least 180 days.
This is to prevent them from reappearing later somewhere in one piece.
Apple's fight against leaks: own employees are safe
These measures work all the harder because Apple demands better data protection from its suppliers at the same time - but only for its own employees who visit a factory.
Your data is taboo.
Biometric information such as fingerprints or facial scans from them are no longer allowed to be collected.
Maybe Apple will really be able to prevent leaks with this.
There are still gaps in the system.
The first images of the next generation of iPhone have appeared on the Internet.
