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Apple Agrees to Multimillion-Dollar Settlement After iPhone Repair Technicians Post Customer's Private Photos Online

ian87w said:
Whenever you submit an iPhone for repair, Apple always recommend you to backup and reset it to factory first. When the iPhone is in factory reset condition, the technicians have zero reason to ask for your PIN or password (and they shouldn't). iPhones are encrypted, so whenever you reset to factory, there's no way for someone to dig into the storage for your data.
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unless the victim unlocked and removed the passcode before shipping the phone in, how was the technician able to gain access to the said photos and videos?

just to put my mind at ease, there is absolutely no way for Apple technicians(Apple itself or one of its contractors) to gain access to my data if my iPhone remains protected by a 6-digit passcode, right? I don't want to be sued by their technicians if they suffer permanent emotional trauma by seeing pictures of my grotesque 23-pound overweight body.
 
ian87w said:
I believe when you submit iPhones for repair, they would ask for your PIN so they can test the phone after the repair. Of course, that's a bad idea, and proper Apple procedure from Apple's own website is for the user to backup and then reset the device first before submitting it for repair. But I'm sure most people don't want that hassle nor have a backup, and would not think twice about giving other people their PIN code, especially if it's to an "authorised Apple repair."
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There are also those that are unable to do so (backup and then erase/reset their device) because their device will not power on (hence the reason for the repair in the first place.)

On a related note: This is why I typically disagree with those that just issue blanket statements like, “Well, they should have erased their device before submitting it for repair. Serves them right!” There’s a lot of people around that do this without even considering the possibility that not all repairs are for devices that can power on. For those that are then presented with that scenario, instead of admitting that “oh, yeah I didn’t think of that,” some of them even double down with idiotic statements like, “well, if it won’t power on, then they should just buy a new one!” I’ve seen a lot of those types of replies too. Ridiculous.
 
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Melisssa said:
Well that sucks! First off, shame on that girl for having uncensored content 😂 Secondly, should of backed up her iOS and deleted those pics/vid. Third, you are required to write your PIN, give consent to Apple and sign. 🤦🏻‍♀️This girl knew what she was getting into, pretty sure. Her plan was to make mills one way or another.
I had to send my iPad to Apple for screen repair, had no problem. They fixed it, and the thing was reseted.
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Nowhere in that article does it say that it was even possible for them to backup and reset their device. It’s entirely possible that their device wouldn’t even power on, which would make it impossible for them to then backup and erase.

“Plan” was to make millions? Seriously? smh
 
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tonny3k said:
I think Apple could change the procedure so that technicians are required to wipe the device first. They could ask to have the device connected for opening the ticket, and at the same time the system also wipes the device.

If the device is so damanged that the system cannot communicate with it and wipe it, it's most likely outside the type of repairs Apple service centers do anyway.
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Not true. I’ve had iOS devices in the past (one over 4 years ago), that wouldn’t power on (and that Genius Bar couldn’t achieve communication with the devices,) that were sent to depot for repair.

This woman’s device was sent to depot, which is clear due to the fact that a Pegatron tech accessed the data on it, and it’s still entirely possible that one of the reasons for the repair is due to not being able to power on.
 
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Also funny how Apple lobbies against Right to Repair and one of their arguments is privacy lmao.. yeaa a ****** repair shop decides to become an AASP.. all of a sudden the people working there are turned into decent trustworthy people. Blows my mind how many people eat up their BS and stick up for them.
 
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And here ladies and gentlemen we demonstrate to you why privacy is important when using Google and Facebook products, when your argument is "I have nothing to hide". Those is for pictures exposed, imagine about how many have been viewed but not not exposed? You simply didn't know!

Any way, I know Apple is not at fault here due to 1 of their many thousands of employees doing this, but how can they protect their customers and make sure no one of their thousands of employees will do this again?
 
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In a way, maybe it's good this turned out this way, otherwise people would have no idea that this could happen.
I noticed this so many times, people bringing laptops, phones to a repair shop without a care in the world, even if they have compromising things in there. It's like they think that authorized repair man is like their doctor, and people are ok with doctors seeing them naked.

And yeah, many times that laptop/phone doesn't turn on, hence the reason to bring it to a shop, so no possibility to make a backup or erase the sensitive things in there, be it bank account info, or that photo you took where you wanted to see how you look from the back.
 
Melisssa said:
Well that sucks! First off, shame on that girl for having uncensored content 😂 Secondly, should of backed up her iOS and deleted those pics/vid. Third, you are required to write your PIN, give consent to Apple and sign. 🤦🏻‍♀️This girl knew what she was getting into, pretty sure. Her plan was to make mills one way or another.
I had to send my iPad to Apple for screen repair, had no problem. They fixed it, and the thing was reseted.
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You're saying a woman planned for a technician to leak her private photos on Facebook so she could sue Apple for millions?
 
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Just a question: Wouldn't Find-My remote deletion erase the device as soon as it powers on (if it does again)?

Well. At lest it should erase the device if it powers on but only the display doesn't work or other components that don't stop it from booting.

Or did I missed something here?
 
MacRumors said:


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.

apple_repair-service-expansion_iphone-repair_07072020_big.jpg.large_2x.jpg

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.
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."

Article Link: Apple Agrees to Multimillion-Dollar Settlement After iPhone Repair Technicians Post Customer's Private Photos Online
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Looks like I'll be sending my phone to be fixed in hopes a technician will post my pics and videos lol
 
This is one of many reasons why I trust Louis Rossmann's repair shop more than Apple's. If Apple screws up they can just hide away all the details and blame a behind closed doors repair shop that they contracted out to. If Louis' business screws up like this his entire business is over.
 
All these posters going on about "Well this is why you should wipe your device before getting it repaired" completely glossing over the fact that a broken device can't be booted up to erase in the first place.
 
Reading skills certainly have gone down on MR. Article says after it stopped working. So all the posts about wiping the device are irrelevant at best.
 
If both parties settled out of court amid a threat from the womans lawyer that a lawsuit would give Apple negative PR, then who leaked the information about this situation to the media 5 years latter because this news item is everywhere which is obviously giving Apple very negative PR because I have no doubt the woman would have been forced to sign a NDA and the fact the issue happened back in 2016 and we are just only hearing about it now tells me she signed a NDA. So, did she leak it to the media or did her lawyer?
 
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