Three People Sentenced to Prison in China Over iPad 2 Leaks

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Posted June 15, 2011 at 3:48pm by iClarified · 12156 views

A Chinese court has sentenced three people to prison for collaborating to steal information about the iPad 2 before its release, according to the WSJ.

The Shenzhen Bao'an People's Court said the head of a Chinese electronics-accessories manufacturer paid a former employee who was then employed by Foxconn for information about the iPad 2 in order to produce protective cases for the device.

The court announced the decision Tuesday in statements on its official account at Sina Weibo, a Twitter-like microblogging service in China. It said that Xiao Chengsong, general manager of Shenzhen MacTop Electronics Co., had offered 20,000 yuan, or about $3,000, plus discounts on MacTop products to a former Hon Hai employee named Hou Pengna, for information about the iPad 2. The court said Ms. Hou then paid Lin Kecheng, a Hon Hai research-and-development employee, to get digital images of the device's back cover from last September, six months before the iPad 2 was publicly announced.

Mr. Xiao was sentenced to 18 months in prison, and fined 150,000 yuan. Mr. Lin was sentenced to 14 months and fined 100,000 yuan, and Ms. Hou was sentenced to a year in prison and fined 30,000 yuan.

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Three People Sentenced to Prison in China Over iPad 2 Leaks

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JK - June 16, 2011 at 6:32am

Stealing is stealing, lesson for everyone.

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Come on - June 15, 2011 at 7:47pm

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 pictures, but understand that they did this for $3,000. That may be laughable to some wankers, but that's probably close to half of the annual salary. Don't make their life more difficult BH hitting them with a 4 fold fine and imprisonment for 1-2 years. How sad...

C - June 15, 2011 at 7:49pm

*their salary And *by hitting them with a 4 fold fine

Michael - June 15, 2011 at 11:59pm

I couldn't agree more with you! Thanks for saying this! Peace

WTF - June 16, 2011 at 12:11pm

@Come on .... so lets say your dad's taken a chance, packed in his regular job and invested all of his money setting up a business (possibly making Apple accessories) they are good quality and value for money, but.... his trade slowly goes down for various reasons, one is cheap workforce (nothing you can do about it, it's an unwanted side effect of globalisation). But a major impact is that no matter how efficient he is, he cannot get the product out quick enough because his cheap competitors also have access to illegally obtained information and have got the market cornered before he can ship. A long story I know but if it happened to your family and the bank foreclosed, would you still say "ahh, but it's only a bit of industrial espionage"?

Come on - June 18, 2011 at 10:33am

I think you're missing the point. Clearly it isn't right to steal information, the question, or more precisely where the moral issue lies is imprisonment as the punishment. The punishment is far too harsh, and god forbid it was dealt in a 1st world country like the U.S., we would be through the hierarchy of courts, beyond the Supreme Court and banging on the UN Court of Human Rights saying Apple is a disgustingly money greedy company that's out of control. However, because it's in China, and it's important to maintain industrial and labor reputation, it's ok to imprison someone and fine them 3-4 years of their salary (not including essential living costs) so we don't spoil your iPad surprise.

Me - June 15, 2011 at 6:27pm

That should them a lesson

DacksMac - June 15, 2011 at 4:36pm

Damn... That's fuckin shittyyyyy!