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Apple continues crackdown on leaks, sends warning letters to prominent sources

Apple is taking action against some of the most prominent leakers in the Apple community. “Kang,” one of the most reliable and well-known Apple leakers, posted on Weibo this week that he received a letter from a law firm representing Apple about information he had previously leaked. This comes after 9to5Mac recently reported that Apple also made changes to its internal development process to crack down on leaks.

It’s unclear who, other than Kang, received a letter from Apple’s lawyers. On Twitter, the reliable leaker L0vetodream claims they have not received any letters from Apple lawyers regarding leaks.

In the letter, Apple lawyers warn that leaking information about unreleased products can affect the company in multiple ways, including giving competitors access to secretive information and misleading customers “because what is disclosed may not be accurate.”

Kang wrote on Weibo this week (translated):

Recently, Apple commissioned a law firm and sent some letters in groups. I also received this group message. The content is probably that you can’t disclose what we haven’t published on the Internet, which will give Apple’s competitors effective information and also mislead consumers, because what is disclosed may not be accurate.

Kang went on to explain that the Apple lawyers included screenshots of things he had previously posted on Weibo, including “release time points and some purchase suggestions.” The leaker, who also operates a smartphone accessory/repair shop, says that he now won’t post “riddles and dreams in the future.”

Kang wrote (translated):

I think my experience with Apple products is objective and fair, and the purchase advice has always been to say don’t buy anything, no other nonsense. I have never published undisclosed product pictures, which means that Apple does not welcome riddlers and Dreaming, dreaming will violate their confidentiality mechanism, even if I have a dream, Apple’s competitors will obtain effective information.

Kang’s post is a clear reference to a relatively new style of Apple leaks where sources position apparent leaks in clever dreams and riddles. Nonetheless, it appears we won’t be getting any of this information from Kang in the future.

These years, playing Weibo with Apple has been a back-to-back tune. Talking will be reviewed. Without posting or leaking pictures, it is also used as a target. I am really curious about how big this group posting is, and it’s like ours. It’s not surprising that a veteran of mobile phone accessories knows in advance, and I haven’t used this information to make a profit on Weibo.

For those unfamiliar with Kang’s track record, he leaked the entire iPhone 12 lineup ahead of its announcement, reported HomePod mini details early on, reported on the return of MagSafe for the iPhone, and more.

As 9to5Mac reported recently, Apple also made changes to its internal development process to prevent software leaks. Within the internal files of iOS 15 beta 1, each major feature introduced this year has a unique identifier (also known as a flag) that is associated with a “disclosure requirement.” Throughout the internal development of iOS 15, this allowed Apple to enable only certain features and changes for certain engineers and designers, thus reducing the number of Apple employees who knew the details about iOS 15 changes.

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Avatar for Chance Miller Chance Miller

Chance is an editor for the entire 9to5 network and covers the latest Apple news for 9to5Mac.

Tips, questions, typos to chance@9to5mac.com