Sony Asks Employees for "No More Leakage!"

Following a swath of leaks—not just in mobile, but throughout the company—Sony is apparently reminding its employees it won’t tolerate any future shenanigans. In particular, the Japanese company is trying to plug up leaks surrounding its smartphone division, which saw a complete reveal of the company’s flagship Z1 ahead of its official announcement. If its any consolation, Sony isn’t the only company this year that has had to combat leaks (ahem Apple, Samsung, HTC).

Apparently posted at Sony’s Mobile office, the note has a set of guidelines instructing employees how to behave in order to avoid leaking information. Many of them are quite simple to follow—common sense, really—but that doesn’t mean employees will be any less tempted to blabber to someone on the Internet, or a friend.

• Do not use phones with protective cover
• Do not show phones to individuals outside of Sony Mobile (unless NDA is signed)
• Do not upload any pictures to social networks, public web pages, etc.
• Do not use 3rd party benchmarking applications

In addition to the Z1 fiasco, we’ve already been hearing about the company’s follow up, which is expected to see the light of day during next year’s CES. Security is obviously of the utmost importance in today’s competitive mobile landscape, and it’s unfortunate companies put forth so much effort into products only for them to be spoiled before the company itself can make an official announcement. But, as we’ve learned this year, it’s just a part of the industry companies will have to learn to accept.