Apple paid millions to woman who got her nudes posted on her facebook by apple iphone repair contractors

[Sauron]

On 6/10/2021 at 10:46 PM, Caroline said:

Don't record yourself naked if you don't want anyone to see you naked.

Maybe you only want some people to see you naked?

[Quackers101]

21 minutes ago, Sauron said:

Maybe you only want some people to see you naked?

Some would mention anything online is a bad idea.

but eh, "society has changed a bit since then" although the "attack vectors" haven't.

[Sauron]

2 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

Some would mention anything online is a bad idea.

This was on her phone, not online.

[Quackers101]

2 hours ago, Sauron said:

This was on her phone, not online.

not sure but, on some storage, it does go online and to a server with some of the content.

But this was an issue on some phone devices, not sure if things have changed since then.

[Sauron]

10 hours ago, Quackers101 said:

not sure but, on some storage, it does go online and to a server with some of the content.

But this was an issue on some phone devices, not sure if things have changed since then.

This was specifically Apple contractor staff going through her phone's storage and posting her private pictures to her facebook account.

[dalekphalm]

As far as I'm aware, Apple has forced the contractor to fire the employees in question. They also paid out a settlement to the woman in question (which they are now recouping directly from the contractor).

 

Apple did the right thing here (whether they did it for the right reasons honestly isn't that relevant). I'm not too sure what else people expect or want Apple to do.

[Quackers101]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

 I'm not too sure what else people expect or want Apple to do.

in this case? nothing more is really possible?

What one would expect, is backlash against their push to make others look evil when this happens under their control.

Like the fear they use against OTHERS handling your device... again in how they treat third party or independent repair with such hostility.

[dalekphalm]

4 minutes ago, Quackers101 said:

in this case? nothing more is really possible?

What one would expect, is backlash against their push to make others look evil when this happens under their control.

Like the fear they use against OTHERS handling your device... again in how they treat third party or independent repair with such hostility.

Fair enough - but Apple does take privacy seriously. Their stance on third party repair shops is mixed, obviously, but the reality is that they *do* have better control over privacy from first party employees.

 

Obviously with contracted workers, there's still an issue here. But let's keep in mind literally any business could have this happen, and honestly there's not much you can do to prevent it from happening. Everything that can be done is reactionary. Fire the employee, fine them or charge them with a crime, etc.

 

Now, in this case, Apple may identify further measures that can be taken, but the bottom line is that in most PC/Phone repair scenarios, you need to trust the technician doing the repairs with your data. Hopefully if further measures can be taken, Apple does just that.

[Quackers101]

11 minutes ago, dalekphalm said:

Obviously with contracted workers, there's still an issue here. But let's keep in mind literally any business could have this happen, and honestly there's not much you can do to prevent it from happening.

which is the reason why people dislike the tactics used by apple onto others, and by their actions it says this would not happen with them... which is pretty much a lie. ofc they could enforce more data locks and dedicated repair tools that has no user access to said file. Just to make it harder for everyone else, to apple repair for the cost of a new phone.

[SolarNova]

Paid millions eh,  so ..she's thanking them i hope lol.

Few nudes online and million $ payout ..she's sorted for life ..assuming she's money smart and doesnt go crazy spending it all on BS.

[WkdPaul]

39 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

Paid millions eh,  so ..she's thanking them i hope lol.

Few nudes online and million $ payout ..she's sorted for life ..assuming she's money smart and doesnt go crazy spending it all on BS.

That sounds way too dismissive IMO.

 

The techs used her FB account to post the pictures. For sure some friends, family and/or co-workers saw that. So on top of the trust issue she probably now has with any type of tech repairman, she has to deal with the friends, family, co-workers that saw those pictures.

 

Yeah, she got money, but I'm 100% sure she would've preferred not going through all this and while the money will probably help getting over it, I doubt that 100% removed all what I mentioned above. Stuff like this will stay at the back of her mind for the rest of her life, for sure.

[SolarNova]

1 minute ago, wkdpaul said:

That sounds way too dismissive IMO.

 

The techs used her FB account to post the pictures. For sure some friends, family and/or co-workers saw that. So on top of the trust issue she probably now has with any type of tech repairman, she has to deal with the friends, family, co-workers that saw those pictures.

 

Yeah, she got money, but I'm 100% sure she would've preferred not going through all this and while the money will probably help getting over it, I doubt that 100% removed all what I mentioned above. Stuff like this will stay at the back of her mind for the rest of her life, for sure.

Oh im not dismissing how 'in the wrong' the company and individuals involved were/are, not by a long shot. And if her payout was like 10 grand or something, thats not really going to make a difference in her life.

 

All im saying is that a few nudes leaked online is a small price to pay for an average 'jane blogs' to go from 'average jane' to millionaire. For every 1 person who thinks they would rather not have it happen to them, there are 10 other people who'd gladly pay that price to become rich enough to pack in work and live more than comfortably for the rest of their life. Its not like she started up an onlyfans ..these were a few nudes likely meant for her significant other.

 

To put it bluntly, if she feels uncomfortable with her facebook profile and/or friends who live nearby. Delete facebook, and move. Facebook isnt a necessity and moving isnt a problem now.

 

As for trust in tech ... surely a hard wake up call on privacy but one thats certainly needed nowadays. Especially with this trend of people thinking that those who want privacy and think it important, must have something to hide...rather than it being a 'normal'  healthy thing to want/expect as it used to be in the past.

[WkdPaul]

14 minutes ago, SolarNova said:

*snip*

ah got it, that's not the interpretation I got on the first read !

 

And yeah, I'm sure some would be glad to pay that price to get a few millions. It could even be her case, but we don't know.

 

And BTW, just closing he FB account won't make it easier to deal with IRL people she knows saw the nudes. That's what I meant ; she'll have to deal with people in her life that she knows have seen the nudes, and knowing a few anxious people, that's gonna eat away at her is she is. We don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised this did some emotional and self-confidence damages, and if she has any anxiety issues, that's not gonna be something she's gonna get over even with the money.

[Master Disaster]

1 hour ago, dalekphalm said:

Fair enough - but Apple does take privacy seriously. Their stance on third party repair shops is mixed, obviously, but the reality is that they *do* have better control over privacy from first party employees.

 

Obviously with contracted workers, there's still an issue here. But let's keep in mind literally any business could have this happen, and honestly there's not much you can do to prevent it from happening. Everything that can be done is reactionary. Fire the employee, fine them or charge them with a crime, etc.

 

Now, in this case, Apple may identify further measures that can be taken, but the bottom line is that in most PC/Phone repair scenarios, you need to trust the technician doing the repairs with your data. Hopefully if further measures can be taken, Apple does just that.

Is this just one giant contradiction though?

 

They do value privacy, I won't disagree on that point however they constantly site first party control over the device in the name of privacy as a reason for not supporting third party repair and then they go and hand that "first party" work to a contractor.

 

If they really want first party from start to end then the device should never end up in the hands of anyone who hasn't signed an employment contract with Apple. The second they hand that work off to another company it becomes third party repair by definition, authorised third party repair sure, but that's still third party.

[whm1974]

Moral of the Story: Either don't take nude pictures and videos of yourself using the Phone, or move them off Phone to Computer.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

I'd just like to point out that if the repair techs had used their exclusive, keys to the kingdom access to the phone to repair it to open her banking app and steal a lot of money, no one here would be saying 'Well, if you don't want people stealing your money, you better uninstall the banking apps from your phone, that you can't use because it's broken, before giving it to someone to fix.  It's really your own fault.'

[Master Disaster]

55 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

Moral of the Story: Either don't take nude pictures and videos of yourself using the Phone, or move them off Phone to Computer.

Disagree, I worked as a PC repair technician for 7 years straight out of college and I can honestly say that I never looked at anybodies personal information, even during backups there's no need to ever "look" at the files.

 

She should be able to take whatever pics she likes on her phone, it is her phone after all (as much as Apple allow it at least).

 

Blaming the victim for something that should never have happened is very destructive to the main point which is, authorised repair techs for the biggest tech company on Earth stole her private photos then proceeded to post them on her private social media account so all her friends and family could see them.

 

Honestly, they should face criminal charges, if it had happened here in Europe they almost certainly would be even without the victim pressing charges. They stole her data, hacked her social media then posted her stolen data onto the internet.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

9 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Disagree, I worked as a PC repair technician for 7 years straight out of college and I can honestly say that I never looked at anybodies personal information, even during backups there's no need to ever "look" at the files.

 

She should be able to take whatever pics she likes on her phone, it is her phone after all (as much as Apple allow it at least).

 

Blaming the victim for something that should never have happened it very destructive to the main point which is, authorised repair techs for the biggest tech company on Earth stole her private photos then proceeded to post them on her private social media account so all her friends and family could see them.

Not to mention if someone has access to your phone, especially if they need to get into your phone to make sure it even works beyond just it turning on, you are outright giving them the keys to the kingdom.  Email, apps and accounts already logged in to countess things and ready to use, financial apps, piles of personal data, it's your main two factor authentication device.  It's easy to be like 'LOL shouldn't have been a slut taking pictures then.' but here in 2021 giving someone else access to your phone for a few days gives them access to so much.  And yes, most places have laws about that and that shouldn't shocking or debatable.

[Master Disaster]

22 minutes ago, CerealExperimentsLain said:

Not to mention if someone has access to your phone, especially if they need to get into your phone to make sure it even works beyond just it turning on, you are outright giving them the keys to the kingdom.  Email, apps and accounts already logged in to countess things and ready to use, financial apps, piles of personal data, it's your main two factor authentication device.  It's easy to be like 'LOL shouldn't have been a slut taking pictures then.' but here in 2021 giving someone else access to your phone for a few days gives them access to so much.  And yes, most places have laws about that and that shouldn't shocking or debatable.

This is way off topic but I take offence to the argument that she was a slut because she took a few nude pictures in its entirety. Its dumb on every possible level, for all we know she might have been in a long distance relationship and was taking consensual photos for her partner.

 

At the end of the day there's a load of "legitimate" reasons why she might have taken the photos and even if she didn't have, what others would call, legitimate reasons it doesn't make her a slut, it makes her a person who did something stupid and that's something everyone does multiple times a week.

[CerealExperimentsLain]

Just now, Master Disaster said:

This is way off topic but I take offence to the argument that she was a slut because she took a few nude pictures in its entirety.

Sorry, I didn't mean that word usage seriously.  I was paraphrasing those taking bad takes on this breach of data privacy simply because it involved nudes when their takes would be different had it been any other kind of data.

 

"Apple paid millions after licensed third party repair techs dump woman's email and used it to gain access to her accounts." we'd not have half the posts we have here blaming her.

[Master Disaster]

Just now, CerealExperimentsLain said:

Sorry, I didn't mean that word usage seriously.  I was paraphrasing those taking bad takes on this breach of data privacy simply because it involved nudes when their takes would be different had it been any other kind of data.

 

"Apple paid millions after licensed third party repair techs dump woman's email and used it to gain access to her accounts." we'd not have half the posts we have here blaming her.

Oh, that wasn't aimed at you in any way. I realise you were just stating the argument in the simplest way possible and actually, you were arguing against the point you described. No need to apologise

[Avocado Diaboli]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

authorised repair techs for the biggest tech company on Earth stole her private photos then proceeded to post them on her private social media account so all her friends and family could see them.

Reading this, I noticed that I'm not even sure what possible motives the techs could've had by doing that. I mean, if they really cared about the nude pictures and copied them for themselves for their own thrills, that's at least a motivation. Not a defensible one, but at least a motivation I can logically follow. But what would even be the goal here posting these pictures on the victim's own social media profiles? Had they "just" copied the pictures to one of their own devices, nobody would've probably been the wiser, but these guys made it their mission to get caught. Why? Did the victim and the techs know each other and this was just a way for them to get back at the victim? Or is this just another glimpse at the abyss of human depravity, too boring and mundane to even be carried out by any real motivation, coupled with sheer stupidity?

[whm1974]

1 hour ago, Master Disaster said:

Disagree, I worked as a PC repair technician for 7 years straight out of college and I can honestly say that I never looked at anybodies personal information, even during backups there's no need to ever "look" at the files.

 

She should be able to take whatever pics she likes on her phone, it is her phone after all (as much as Apple allow it at least).

 

Blaming the victim for something that should never have happened is very destructive to the main point which is, authorised repair techs for the biggest tech company on Earth stole her private photos then proceeded to post them on her private social media account so all her friends and family could see them.

 

Honestly, they should face criminal charges, if it had happened here in Europe they almost certainly would be even without the victim pressing charges. They stole her data, hacked her social media then posted her stolen data onto the internet.

She could have moved Content to her Computer and onto a USB HDD and not have her personal stuff like that not getting exposed on Facebook. And don't use Facebook on phones. Computer only and login manually.

 

 

[CerealExperimentsLain]

13 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

She could have moved Content to her Computer and onto a USB HDD and not have her personal stuff like that not getting exposed on Facebook. And don't use Facebook on phones. Computer only and login manually.

Ah, there's the idea!  Just have no sensitive information on your phone.  No shopping apps, no banking apps, no apps for personal communication such as SMS, instant messaging, email, never store photos on the phone... If you do any of that for your phone, it's your own fault that officially licensed  apple techs could potentially access your information.

 

...Wait why are we owning smart phones again then?  This is about as reasonable as 'If you don't want to get robbed, just don't have money'.  And, I'd like to point out that your bank staff really could just steal all of your money. They have access to all your back account info and the systems that operate them. ...It's just that, ya know, they'd go to prison for it.

[Master Disaster]

13 minutes ago, whm1974 said:

She could have moved Content to her Computer and onto a USB HDD and not have her personal stuff like that not getting exposed on Facebook. And don't use Facebook on phones. Computer only and login manually.

 

 

She was sending her phone in for repair, its kind of hard to pull your data off a broken phone....