Bathroom security at the WWDC!

[gunug]

I thought this was kind of funny and kind of paranoid on Apple's (Steve's?) part:

QUOTE

After some debate, ComputerWorld's Matt Hamblen wrote a lengthy blog post on the matter because he found it somewhat demoralizing and embarrassing, especially given that he was covering the conference from a secure press area that Apple itself had the opportunity to select and isolate more appropriately if it so chose.

"I started off for the wash room, but was told by Apple officials that I couldn't go alone," he wrote, claiming that the seemingly absurd measure was the result of both Apple chief executive Steve Jobs and a just-announced iPhone 3G being somewhere within a 50 yard radius.

Having obliged to Apple's demand the first time around, Hamblen who had been drinking quite a bit of coffee found himself in need of a second trip to the facilities. So instead of "looking ill" by approaching the same man who'd accompanied him prior, he asked a female Apple staffer if he could possibly handle the return trip on his own. No dice.

"So, I went to my favorite restroom escort, and he looked at me like I WAS ill," Hamblen wrote. He then explained to the escorts that he wasn't an old man with a bladder problem, but had simply been slurping a lot of caffeine. That, however, made him the subject of considerable mockery once he entered the bathroom, as the escorts traded "jokes about what might be wrong" with him.

http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/06..._reporters.html

This is sort of like grade school where you have to wait until the moment is right for the teacher to let you go!

[Gregg]

That's simply ridiculous!

[Paddy]

Actually, no, it isn't. Read this response from the discussion thread:

QUOTE

Unless you read the original blog, you miss what is probably the underlying reason why the security.

As the blogger, Hamblen, states near the end of his blog, "On a serious note, I presume that Apple wanted to prevent me and other reporters from sneaking off to one of the interview rooms where the new iPhone 2.0 was being displayed. (Apple also kicked reporters out of the developer's conference following the Jobs keynote and posted warnings to developers not to share proprietary information from their conference)" REF: Matt Hamblen. http://blogs.computerworld.com/user/matt_hamblen

Perhaps we should take into account, the conference was not for reporters, and all participants were subject to the conditions of Apples non-disclosure agreement; which, however did not apply to the media.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/sites...ip_warning.jpg

As we can see, there is no "live" news being fed from the WWDC following the keynote. As a third-party developer, I would be equally hesitant having the media loose on the premises. The security strategy was not just for Apple, the iPhone or any of its other products or applications, but also for the protection of those developers in attendance and their applications.

Thank you Apple.

Get a life guys. You don't hear any of the 5,000 plus paid attendees complaining.

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting a senior Apple designer who is an old friend of a very good friend of ours (he's a software designer - I think largely to do with video, but hey - he wasn't at liberty to say!) and he told us that Jobs recently told him to lock his office door to keep other Apple employees out! Whatever he's working on, they're quite serious about preventing any info leaks, and you cannot blame them. It's a very competitive field and Apple's success lately makes them a real target for snoops, no matter what the intent of the snooping.

[Xairbusdriver]

Some of you know that my son has been working at Apple for a little over a year now. He says there are strict limits as to who can go where and when they might need a 'host.' He won't even tell his old man what, exactly, he's working on but promises it will be "amazing!"

[Gregg]

Does he work behind a firewall? 1 hour or 2 hour rated?

[MamaMoose]

Wow!  The only similar circumstance is that that my daughter works under. She works for Playboy managing their retirement operation for employees. On the upper floors were the photography takes place, it is almost impossible to enter without knowing 1) a specific lock code for each door you need too enter, 2) a badge that has your picture and pertinent info., and a  "need to know" for a specific facility!

When you are in any secure facility in the DoD or a defense contractor, you need to have an escort to goes with you to the bathroom. This caused a problem when one of team was female and there were no female escorts available! By the way anyone in the facility employee or contractor had a massive security investigation before they had access to anything.

MamaMoose

[krissel]

After some of the bathrooms in the elementary schools where I worked had vandalism or graffiti on their walls, we instituted a new policy. The kids had to go to the restrooms in pairs. The teachers would pick a responsible person to accompany a more questionable one. That way they were less inclined to do anything because the other person would squeal.

It worked, though some parents didn't like the idea.

[Gregg]

QUOTE(krissel @ Jun 19 2008, 02:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>

After some of the bathrooms in the elementary schools where I worked had vandalism or graffiti on their walls, we instituted a new policy. The kids had to go to the restrooms in pairs. The teachers would pick a responsible person to accompany a more questionable one. That way they were less inclined to do anything because the other person would squeal.

It worked, though some parents didn't like the idea.

Doesn't always work... at my wife's school, one boy accused another of sexual assault in the Boys Room. Of course, those weren't his exact words.

[Xairbusdriver]

In Memphis, they could always use some of the Policemen walking the halls as restroom escorts..."Responsible" people, of any age, being next to impossible to find...