The recyclers don’t have any way to contact the IT team?
The job for the IT department is to ensure all company data is wiped from the phones before dropping them off at the recyclers. Nothing more than that.
Heck, I bet some managers even knowingly ask them to keep the activation locks in place so that the phones will be shredded, just to add a belt-and-suspenders level of security.
Then that’s the decision of the IT team/management/etc… to intentionally destroy them? Which they have the right to since they presumably own the devices in the absolute sense.
What does that have to do with Apple’s procedures?
If activation locks didn’t exist then companies would have to pay the recyclers to shred the devices. Otherwise recyclers would actually be able to recycle them into usable parts/whole devices to sell.
Keeping that stuff off the used market has got to be a big side benefit for activation lock.
Huh? If they didn’t exist I imagine it would be the other way around. Recyclers would pay companies to have stuff sent to them, because they could actually sell the parts to the highest bidder.
But in either case if the IT department/management actually wants to destroy the devices, no procedures from Apple will affect that decision.
Worst case they just call a shredding truck to their doorstep to shred them right there.
But in either case if the IT department/management actually wants to destroy the devices, no procedures from Apple will affect that decision.
Either way, as it stands now it doesn’t cost the company anything to have the devices shredded. Without activation locks it will, either by forgoing the premium paid by the recyclers or by having to pay a shredder to do it for them.
It’s a power difference. Activation locks give companies more power to control what happens to devices after they’ve left their custody. It also makes it more likely for devices to get shredded because companies need to affirmatively consent to the devices being resold after leaving their custody. This benefits Apple by taking used devices off the market.
This affirmative consent element is also quite powerful in the consumer space for the same reason that opt-out organ donation is so successful: people generally prefer defaults and shy away from making extra decisions that complicate their lives. This means people are much more likely to trade in their old phones to Apple (who either shred or sell as refurbished) instead of selling on the open market.
The job for the IT department is to ensure all company data is wiped from the phones before dropping them off at the recyclers. Nothing more than that.
Heck, I bet some managers even knowingly ask them to keep the activation locks in place so that the phones will be shredded, just to add a belt-and-suspenders level of security.