Money
Apple pays millions to end customer’s explicit images leak lawsuit
Apple has paid millions of dollars to settle a lawsuit with a young woman after technicians leaked explicit photos from her iPhone that was sent in for repair
In 2016, an unnamed student in Oregon sent her iPhone to Apple, as part of the repairs process.
The device was then handed over to a Pegatron facility in Sacramento, California, where it was examined by technicians.
Two of the technicians then posted multiple videos and images to the woman’s Facebook account, according to a report, ‘to make it seem like she posted the images herself’.
The explicit content was later removed once friends of the young woman advised her of the leak.
The woman then threatened a lawsuit of $5million for the invasion of privacy and emotional distress against the trillion-dollar tech company.
She stated an additional warning there would be “negative media publicity” due to the lawsuit’s existence.
Apple provided a “multimillion-dollar” settlement of an undisclosed amount.
Confidentiality provisions as part of the settlement prevented further discussion of the case or the amount paid, but it’s understood the existence of the lawsuit was made public due to it being referenced by another lawsuit.
The tech giant added that it takes “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.”