aryayush
Aspiring Novelist
Steve Jobs, Spymaster
By Leander Kahney *www.wired.com/ly/wired/shared/images/common/icon_story_send.gif | *www.wired.com/ly/wired/shared/images/common/icon_story_morepgs.gif Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Mar, 06, 2007
A judge ordered Apple last January to pay the $700,000 legal fees of two websites that reported on an unreleased product code-named "Asteroid." Apple had sued the sites seeking the identities of leakers within its ranks, but lost the case.
I was talking recently with an ex-Apple staffer who worked high up at the company for many years, often closely with CEO Steve Jobs.
The programmer, who asked not to be named, was convinced the Asteroid product was invented, a figment of Jobs' imagination dreamed up to find the source of leaks -- the old "canary trap."
It's an espionage trick used to find the source of a leak: Feed each person in the organization a slightly different piece of information, and see who sings. The name comes from the novels of Tom Clancy; British spies called the tactic a "barium meal," after a drink given before stomach X-rays to illuminate the digestive system.
"That's how devious they are," the programmer said. "They wouldn't do it with a real product. There's too many details and too many legitimate ways information could leak out. But with a phony product, Steve knows what information went where. The proof is that the product hasn't come out -- and still hasn't."
At first I thought this was plausible -- Jobs certainly seems capable of it -- but think about it for a second.
If Jobs was setting a canary trap, why would he need to sue the outlets of his misinformation? If it were a trap, the publication of any information he'd planted would be all he needed. Going on to sue the publications is an unnecessary step. (Unless he were trying to cover up the canary trap -- but this is too devious even for a spy novel).
Canary traps are widely used to uncover industrial espionage. A private investigator once told me about a Silicon Valley company in the mid-'80s that had a problem losing key customers to the competition. The investigator had several lists of customers made up, each sprinkled with bogus phone numbers. Different lists were given to different people. The investigator just waited to see which of the phony phone lines he'd set up began ringing.
Recently, it seems to have become common knowledge that Jobs plays these kind of espionage games. Recent stories about how the iPhone was kept secret mentioned tactics like nondisclosure agreements, misinformation and phony prototypes. These stories were much discussed on blogs, Slashdot and Digg.
It's true that Jobs is very secretive -- but he certainly doesn't play devious spy games.
Read more...
By Leander Kahney *www.wired.com/ly/wired/shared/images/common/icon_story_send.gif | *www.wired.com/ly/wired/shared/images/common/icon_story_morepgs.gif Also by this reporter
02:00 AM Mar, 06, 2007
A judge ordered Apple last January to pay the $700,000 legal fees of two websites that reported on an unreleased product code-named "Asteroid." Apple had sued the sites seeking the identities of leakers within its ranks, but lost the case.
I was talking recently with an ex-Apple staffer who worked high up at the company for many years, often closely with CEO Steve Jobs.
The programmer, who asked not to be named, was convinced the Asteroid product was invented, a figment of Jobs' imagination dreamed up to find the source of leaks -- the old "canary trap."
It's an espionage trick used to find the source of a leak: Feed each person in the organization a slightly different piece of information, and see who sings. The name comes from the novels of Tom Clancy; British spies called the tactic a "barium meal," after a drink given before stomach X-rays to illuminate the digestive system.
"That's how devious they are," the programmer said. "They wouldn't do it with a real product. There's too many details and too many legitimate ways information could leak out. But with a phony product, Steve knows what information went where. The proof is that the product hasn't come out -- and still hasn't."
At first I thought this was plausible -- Jobs certainly seems capable of it -- but think about it for a second.
If Jobs was setting a canary trap, why would he need to sue the outlets of his misinformation? If it were a trap, the publication of any information he'd planted would be all he needed. Going on to sue the publications is an unnecessary step. (Unless he were trying to cover up the canary trap -- but this is too devious even for a spy novel).
Canary traps are widely used to uncover industrial espionage. A private investigator once told me about a Silicon Valley company in the mid-'80s that had a problem losing key customers to the competition. The investigator had several lists of customers made up, each sprinkled with bogus phone numbers. Different lists were given to different people. The investigator just waited to see which of the phony phone lines he'd set up began ringing.
Recently, it seems to have become common knowledge that Jobs plays these kind of espionage games. Recent stories about how the iPhone was kept secret mentioned tactics like nondisclosure agreements, misinformation and phony prototypes. These stories were much discussed on blogs, Slashdot and Digg.
It's true that Jobs is very secretive -- but he certainly doesn't play devious spy games.
Read more...
