This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
And he searched the internet for terms like “how to wipe out macbook” and “Can somebody see if I’ve opened a file on a shared drive?” from his Apple-issued MacBook before leaving the company.
Like you said OP, pretty dumb
Not in case he had misconceptions about privacy on corporate-issued hardware. Technically it might be illegal if not spelled explicitly in the contract that yes, there will be spyware.
And now when I've typed that, I've realized that a corporate-issued laptop would be, eh, returned to the employer with all that history. It's expected that I'm even dumber than someone in such a position, but still funny.
He now heads up a team working on sensing technology at Oppo — which Apple says it learned because of “messages he left on his Apple-issued work iPhone.” In his resignation letter to Apple, Shi said he was leaving “due to personal and family reasons.” Via that iPhone, Apple also says it found messages from Oppo demonstrating that it “encouraged, approved, and agreed to Dr. Shi’s plan to collect Apple’s proprietary information before leaving Apple.”
Why would either of these companies hire someone this stupid in a pivotal role?
They don't. Anybody that does this is marked for life by every side - Apple as well as Oppo, as an unreliable, non-trustworthy personality. If Oppo promised him some position in their company it will be provided as a dunce seat just long enough for other potential IP thieves to think "Hey, this guy seems to have it figured out, I should steal secrets for Oppo!", and after that reasonabke time period he'll be buried in some godforsaken back room until he quits.
Traitors are marked wherever they go.
The AI said it was a good idea
Sounds damning, however the evidence will need to be presented. Apple’s legal team has a tendency to present and open-and-shut case to the media but it’s very much spinned in their favour.
If they just made up a bunch of accusations with paltry evidence to prove it, the scandal would make headlines. "iPhone maker found to be full of shit in court!" is clickworthy gold. I don't think your stance is very strong. Every entity tries to spin things in their favor, but you make it sound like they'd bring an empty case and they very much would not. No one starts a lawsuit they don't think they can win unless they're someone with no credibility and endless money like Elon Musk (see lawsuit against Apple and OpenAI) or oil companies going after environmental lawyers.
I politely disagree. Apple legal will most certainly make extreme accusations and throw the book at individuals as a deterrent to other staff who may be considering bringing “trade secret” knowledge with them as they leave. Which is basically turns any kind of creative solution to a tech problem into a “trade secret” 🍆in this reality of patents and intellectual property.
I suspect that this person thought they were getting away with something minor and it’s being spun into mustache-twirling supervillains as a warning to staff.
