Tech giant Apple has paid millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit with a student after repair techs working for its partner company Pegatron leaked explicit photographs and videos from her iPhone that was sent in to be repaired.
Apple Insider reports that Apple has paid millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit with a student whose explicit images and videos were leaked from her iPhone after she sent it in for repair.
In 2016, a student in Oregon sent her iPhone to Apple to be repaired. The device was sent to a repair facility in Sacramento, California, where technicians working for Apple partner Pegatron examined the device. The two technicians then reportedly posted “10 photos of her in various stages of undress and a sex video” to the woman’s Facebook account, to make it appear as if she posted the images herself.
The explicit content was later removed once friends of the victim informed her of their publication. The woman threatened a lawsuit for the invasion of privacy and emotional distress, warning that there would also be “negative media publicity” due to the lawsuit’s existence.
Apple then provided a “multimillion-dollar” settlement of an undisclosed amount, following a demand for $5 million from the victim. A dispute arose between insurers and Pegatron, as the insurers refused to pay out for the settlement amount Pegatron had reimbursed Apple.
Although Apple wasn’t identified in Pegatron’s lawsuit with the insurer, only mentioned as a “customer” to maintain confidentiality, another unrelated lawsuit with Apple referred to previous legal activity. When questioned, Apple confirmed the incident had taken place.
“We take the privacy and security of our customers’ data extremely seriously and have a number of protocols in place to ensure data is protected throughout the repair process,” Apple said in a statement. “When we learned of this egregious violation of our policies at one of our vendors in 2016, we took immediate action and have since continued to strengthen our vendor protocols. ”
Apple suspended new business with Pegatron in 2020 after it was revealed the company committed numerous labor violations with its “student worker program.”
Read more at Apple Insider here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.