On Sunday evening, the California court received a lawsuit against Apple. The company was accused of saying it could «engage in physical, video and electronic surveillance» of employees.
On Sunday evening, the California court received a lawsuit against Apple. The company was accused of saying it could «engage in physical, video and electronic surveillance» of employees.
The plaintiff in the Apple case was Amar Bhakta, an ad tech worker for Apple since 2020. He accused the company of using its privacy policy to harm his employment prospects. In particular, the company banned Bhakti from public speaking about digital advertising and forced him to remove information about his work at Apple from his LinkedIn page, Semafor writes .
«For Apple employees, the Apple ecosystem is not a walled garden. This is the prison yard. A panopticon where employees, both on and off the job, are subject to the all-seeing eye of Apple,» Amar Bhakta wrote in the lawsuit.
Apple categorically denied the allegations in the lawsuit and added that employees at the company have the right to discuss their wages, hours and working conditions. «And it’s part of our business conduct policy that all employees are trained with annually,» the company said in a statement.
The next charge was that the company’s policy encourages employees to conduct their activities in the digital world, even at home, so that Apple can find out what they are doing. Specifically, the lawsuit alleges that employees were required to use only Apple devices at work. In addition, workers must connect their personal iCloud records, and they must agree to install software that gives the company the ability to see virtually everything that happens on that device, including its real-time location.
According to the statement, Apple employees could also use the iCloud work record, but the company «actively discourages» doing so.
If Apple is found guilty, the court could order the company to pay a fine for each violation multiplied by the number of affected employees.
