Apple Agrees to Multimillion-Dollar Settlement After iPhone Repair Technicians Post Customer's Private Photos Online
Apple has paid a 21-year-old millions of dollars in a legal settlement after photos and videos from the customer's iPhone, sent in for repair, were uploaded to Facebook, leading to "severe emotional distress," according to a new report from The Telegraph.
The incident occurred in 2016 at a repair facility run by Apple supplier Pegatron in California. The 21-year-old college student sent her iPhone into the repair facility to be fixed after it had stopped working. Legal documents outline that while it was being fixed, technicians posted 10 photos of the Apple customer in "various stages of undress and a sex video."
The exact amount Apple paid to the student was not disclosed. However, the report describes a "multimillion-dollar" settlement, and says that the customer's lawyers specifically requested $5 million during negotiation talks. Her lawyers also threatened to sue Apple for invasion of privacy and "infliction of emotional distress." They had reportedly warned the Cupertino tech giant that a lawsuit would give it negative PR, which possibly made the company more willing to pay the settlement.
Lawyers for the victim had threatened to sue for invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress, and had warned of the "negative media publicity" that would accompany a lawsuit. The settlement included a confidentiality provision that prevented her from discussing the case or revealing the size of the payout.
In a statement given to The Telegraph, Apple said that it takes customers' privacy "extremely seriously," and that it thoroughly investigated the "egregious violation." The company said it took "immediate action" and has since "continued to strengthen our vendor protocols."
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