The difference is there's no laws around your home decor, but there is a clear legal framework around trade secrets. Apple's allegation is that a vulnerability was exploited to access some of the data as well which, if true, carries potential CFAA criminal charges.

For trade secrets, it only requires "reasonable measures" even just having an NDA is enough, even if the rest of your security is wide open. Just because someone found a loophole or grabbed files before their access was revoked doesn't make it legal (under trade secrets law).

Almost certainly the employees at some point in their tenure at apple signed some duty of confidentiality, or some acceptable use policy, etc. which is grounds enough for illegal misappropriation. "You didn't lock down their access enough" isn't a valid legal defense.

There are absolutely laws about IP theft. That's why it's called Intellectual Property.

You really don't want the law to be "Well you didn't lose a physical thing, so why should it be illegal?"

Having access doesn't mean you are allowed to access something. Let's say I started working at a new company and notice I can still access the source code at my old company. This doesn't mean I am allowed to download it and give it to my new employer even if we just use it as a reference.

It's more like if you left your door unlocked, and I hire somebody to break into your house and make copies of documents you left sitting on the counter. They discover that the door is unlocked so their job is real easy, hooray! Doesn't matter, still very illegal, and both I and the person I hired should be prosecuted for it.

No. Unlocked door != legal entry. "Breaking" in B&E doesn't require any physical damage. Pushing open an unlocked door or entering a place without authorization counts. If I leave my home to go to the store, and leave the door unlocked and someone walks in, they are still committing a crime.

There are also no tenant protections for criminal intruders, squatter protections require a claim of right like a disputed lease or a holdover tenancy, or continuous possession over many years. Someone that just walks into a residence is an active trespasser and can be arrested for criminal trespass or burglary.

This is not how it works. Even a cursory glance at the law makes it clear that this is not how it works.

Here is New York: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/laws/PEN/140.20

Funny enough, I had some valuable stuff (including my passport!) stolen from my car, which I'd left unlocked because I was moving some heavy boxes. The police in my area (bay area) said they couldn't really do anything about it because they didn't break a window.

I don't know exactly what legal technicalities are involved, but this did actually happen to me in a de facto sense!

That’s like saying it’s not manslaughter if you kill a woman because no ”man” died.

Laws around breaking and entering date back to WELL before mechanical locks were commonplace or even affordable to residences.

Do not try this at homes that belong to other people.

No it doesnt, that's still breaking and entering

Ha this is the logic Richard Chase used to enter peoples homes

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