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Watching the footage on this site reminds me of how I watched the events unfold on 9/11. I was at work at Apple in IL2 (Building 2 of the Infinite Loop campus.)

Watching the footage on this site reminds me of how I watched the events unfold on 9/11. I was at work at Apple in IL2 (Building 2 of the Infinite Loop campus.) People started getting calls on their desk phones and co-workers coming in started to share the news. An email came from Steve Jobs which I can't remember the exact contents of. One thing the email did have, was a link that was a live video news stream of the events unfolding. The campus entered a type of lock-down. The gates to the parking garages were closed, the front-doors to the building were locked and security blocked the entrances to the campus with their vehicles. At the time, work was sort of my family so I didn't consider that some people probably wanted to leave right away to be with their loved ones. I assume they were able to do so with some effort. Things obviously changed in the world that day. At Apple, the underground gates to the garages were always closed and you had to badge in. Security personnel were posted in the lobbies and badging in and "tailgating" were taken very seriously. The doors to the inner campus were now locked and you had to badge in and out. These were all really minor things, but it made you realize that things were no longer going to be the same as before.

acwan93 5y ago
How much of Apple’s current security measures were a result of 9/11? The parking garage, tailgating, and badging everywhere i always thought were due to Apple’s culture of secrecy.
- diskzero 5y ago
  Apple's culture of secrecy used to be to just not talk about what you were working on and don't talk about vapor projects. There was a big thrill to keep things secret for MacWorld, WWDC, whatever. Things changed, social media and various websites created motivation for people to get whatever small satisfaction you get when you leak. There was a big change after 9/11 of the overall security posture. Internal security measures kept ramping up year after year as people started leaking. You used to be able to walk pretty much unhindered through all the buildings. Some lab areas would be locked, but things were open in general. I never understood the leakers. They were usually caught and fired.
rejectedandsad 5y ago
> I was at work at Apple in IL2 (Building 2 of the Infinite Loop campus.) You were at work at 6-7AM?
- diskzero 5y ago
  Yes, I was that day. And I had probably been there since 6:00 am the previous day. Pulling multiple all-nighters on various "super important" projects was typical for me and others. In retrospect, my advice is not to do such things, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The email and all the security events happened right after the second plane hit, which seemed like it was closer to normal start of day hours.
  - rejectedandsad 5y ago
    Fair, 2001 was a pivot point for Apple's history too.

acwan93 5y ago

How much of Apple’s current security measures were a result of 9/11? The parking garage, tailgating, and badging everywhere i always thought were due to Apple’s culture of secrecy.

diskzero 5y ago
Apple's culture of secrecy used to be to just not talk about what you were working on and don't talk about vapor projects. There was a big thrill to keep things secret for MacWorld, WWDC, whatever. Things changed, social media and various websites created motivation for people to get whatever small satisfaction you get when you leak. There was a big change after 9/11 of the overall security posture. Internal security measures kept ramping up year after year as people started leaking. You used to be able to walk pretty much unhindered through all the buildings. Some lab areas would be locked, but things were open in general. I never understood the leakers. They were usually caught and fired.

rejectedandsad 5y ago

> I was at work at Apple in IL2 (Building 2 of the Infinite Loop campus.) You were at work at 6-7AM?

diskzero 5y ago
Yes, I was that day. And I had probably been there since 6:00 am the previous day. Pulling multiple all-nighters on various "super important" projects was typical for me and others. In retrospect, my advice is not to do such things, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. The email and all the security events happened right after the second plane hit, which seemed like it was closer to normal start of day hours.
- rejectedandsad 5y ago
  Fair, 2001 was a pivot point for Apple's history too.