Itaewon Tragedy Bereaved Families Sue Apple Over 'iPhone Unlock'

Filing a Claim Lawsuit Against Apple Korea
Introducing the 'Digital Legacy' Feature Since 2012

Last year, the bereaved family who lost their loved ones in the Halloween tragedy filed a lawsuit against Apple Korea, requesting to unlock the device.

A bereaved family who lost loved ones in last year's Halloween tragedy has filed a lawsuit against Apple Korea, requesting to unlock the device.
[Photo by Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 27th, Hwang Hojun, attorney at The Ho Law Office and representative of the bereaved family member A, announced that a claim lawsuit was recently filed against Apple Korea at the Seoul Central District Court.

On the day of the tragedy, October 29, A attempted to unlock the iPhone 7 Plus left by their deceased child to understand the circumstances of the child’s visit to the Itaewon Halloween festival. However, due to repeated password errors and failed login attempts, the device eventually became disabled.

A’s side argued, "Considering the relationship the son maintained with his parents during his lifetime, the inability to contact due to the Itaewon accident, and the urgent situation at the time of the incident, the son would have consented as the subject of personal information to allow the parents to verify information related to his death."

They continued, "In major disasters such as the Daegu subway fire or the Sewol ferry disaster, victims repeatedly used their phones to send final messages to their families. Considering these situations, the bereaved family can request the iPhone unlock with the deceased’s implied consent."

There have been several previous lawsuits requesting iPhone unlocks against Apple, but Apple has won all of them. In 2019, a domestic lawyer filed a lawsuit against Apple Korea demanding to unlock an iPad after forgetting the password but lost the case.

At that time, the court stated, "If Apple Korea unlocks the device without verifying the owner, information leakage damage may occur, so Apple Korea can refuse unlock requests from persons whose ownership is not clear."

Apple introduced the 'Digital Legacy' feature in December 2021. This allows only pre-designated people to access the data of devices such as iPhones and iPads when the owner passes away. Up to five legacy contacts can be designated, and after submitting the deceased’s death certificate and a previously obtained 'access key' to Apple, they can request data access rights.

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