Apple memo from Tim Cook denouncing leakers gets leaked

“People who leak confidential information” don’t belong at Apple, according to the tech giant’s CEO Tim Cook, whose memo denouncing leakers was itself leaked to The Verge as previous memos had been.

Cook emailed his employees on Tuesday regarding an “all-hands” meeting in which its contents were leaked to tech outlet The Verge last week, declaring the company was doing everything in its power to “identify those who leaked” and that any employee who would do such a thing had no place at his trillion-dollar tech behemoth.

The CEO insisted it wasn’t he who had the major problem with the previous week’s meeting being leaked, but “so many of you,” meaning his employees – though he admitted he “share[d their] frustration.” While hailing meetings as “important,” he explained they “only work if we can trust that the content will stay within Apple.” As the fate of the last several memos, meetings, and top-secret product launches has made clear, Apple’s leak-finding acumen – though storied – is not perfect, but Cook took pains to “reassure [employees] that we are doing everything in our power to identify those who leaked.”

The previous week’s leaked meeting was on the subject of Apple’s Covid-19 protocol. Rather than rolling out a vaccine mandate – which US President Joe Biden has claimed he hopes to make the law of the land for all companies with over 100 employees – Apple will be “requiring frequent testing for unvaccinated employees,” according to the contents of that meeting, which also were leaked to The Verge.

Additionally, Cook had told the assembled employees he was “looking forward to moving forward” following the conclusion of the Epic v. Apple antitrust case, which came to something of a draw when Apple was ordered to allow app developers to let customers use outside payment methods when downloading apps but given a chance to collect on the fees owed it by plaintiff and Fortnite creators Epic. While Apple is no doubt happy to get its pound of flesh off Epic, the possibility of losing out on future 30% commission fees for App Store downloads must have stung. Epic has reportedly appealed the verdict, but Apple refuses to allow its apps back into the App Store until the ruling is final.

Despite that one small bite out of its finances, Apple has plenty of other money-making opportunities in the pipeline, if other leaks are to be believed. Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal reported that the company was working on multiple studies in the hope of finding iPhone usage signatures that might match up with common psychological disorders like depression and anxiety or even cognitive decline. With an estimated one in four Americans suffering mental illness every year, such a diagnostic tool could produce a major windfall for the tech firm – alongside criticism from some corners that they are monetizing the suffering caused by their own technology, that is.

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