Apple take leaks seriously. So seriously in fact, that four workers from the manufacturing arm Foxconn have been arrested and charged over stealing components from the iPad 2.
Way back in December, images of iPad 2 cases featuring a rear-facing camera started showing up online – at the time, Foxconn reported its suspicions that the design had been leaked by its own employees, according to reports.
Four employees from Apple’s manufacturing partner Foxconn were reportedly arrested back in 2010 and have now been charged, this follows the leak of iPad 2 case components.
The unnamed employees have now been officially charged with violating the company’s trade secrets – although it is unknown whether they will be going to prison for their actions.
Hon Hai Precision Industrys – the parent company of Foxxcon – knew something was wrong when protective cases for the iPad 2 appeared for sale by a number of online retailers long before the official release of the device itself.
The design leak allowed third party manufacturers to build iPad 2 cases that were the exact thickness and knew location of the camera on the rear of the device – a whole 6 months early.
Chinese language web site SZ News reports that the arrests originally took place in December 2010 after local police were alerted but it has taken until now for the charges to be formalised.
Foxconn has had a torrid couple of years in the media. The Apple gadget factory was criticised over working conditions when news started emerging of staff suicides.
Its responses included hanging nets around staff accommodation, moving staff to factories with less press exposure than its now-notorious Shenzen facility, and trumpeted new staff deals.
In 2009, sadly a Foxconn engineer committed suicide after he lost an iPhone 4 prototype.
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