US iPhone Repair Technician Leaks Photos and Videos... Apple Offers 'Millions of Dollars' in Compensation

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Yuri] In the United States, an Apple repair technician uploaded photos and videos stored on a customer's iPhone to the internet, leading Apple to pay millions of dollars in settlement.

According to foreign media on the 8th, two repair technicians at an Apple authorized repair center in California leaked customer photos and videos from an iPhone sent for repair in January 2016, resulting in Apple paying millions of dollars in settlement to the victims.

The technicians posted 10 nude photos and one sexual video of the female victim on her Facebook, making it appear as if the victim herself had posted them. The victim, who learned of this through reports from friends, suffered severe mental distress and initially planned to sue Apple but later reached a settlement. The amount of the settlement is only known to be "millions of dollars."

The amount demanded by the victim was reported to be $5 million (approximately 5.5 billion KRW). The settlement reportedly included a confidentiality agreement prohibiting disclosure of the incident itself or the settlement amount, according to foreign media.

The case first came to light when Pegatron, which operates the repair center where the problem occurred, filed a lawsuit with the insurance company to receive insurance compensation after reimbursing Apple for the settlement amount. Apple tried to prevent its name from being mentioned in the lawsuit, but the existence of the case was acknowledged when the previous lawsuit was referenced in a separate lawsuit involving Apple and Pegatron.

Apple stated, "We place great importance on privacy and the security of customer data," adding, "There are procedures in place to ensure that (customer) data is protected during the repair process, but in 2016, we confirmed that one of our partners violated this policy, took immediate action, and strengthened related procedures."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.