Four Apple Store Employees Fired for Sharing Customer’s Explicit Photos

According to a report published earlier this week in the Queensland, Australia-based newspaper, Courier-Mail, an undisclosed number of workers employed at Apple’s Carindale, Brisbane storefront were allegedly caught engaging in what investigators deemed was a massive photo theft and sharing ring. In essence, those implicated in the matter are said to have either stolen personal photographs directly from a customers’ phone, prior to sharing them directly with other employees and staff; or, alternatively, the Courier-Mail report noted that over 100 additional photos “of explicit nature” were captured and shared, like the common cold, with other Apple employees working in the state of Queensland.

In instances where “explicit photos” of female customers were taken and shared, the Courier-Mail report stated that recipients in groups of chat-style conversations were asked by the sender to offer their individual rating of each photo on a scale of 1 to 10… Ouch…

The scheme is said to have first come to light in the wake of an Apple technician from the Carindale Store being walked in on while casually browsing through a customer’s iPhone in the store’s repair room. As you might imagine, one thing lead to another from there, and the ultimate result was that a total of four Carindale employees had been fired.

“One person would take a photo and add it to the chat and others would give the person or their butt or their boobs a rating out of 10 and they would add their own side commentary,” an Apple staffer told the Courier-Mail. “Everyone feels uncomfortable and the female staff [members] don’t know how to feel because the leadership won’t tell staff who is involved.”

Apple has so far made one, brief statement on the matter, confirming only that an “investigation into Apple Carindale is currently underway”, and that “several” firings have already taken place there. However, according to CultofMac, the Cupertino-company followed up with an additional statement about its investigation into the matter — reflecting how it concluded that “several” employees will be terminated, while also using the opportunity to downplay any concerns over customer privacy.

“Based on our investigation thus far, we have seen no evidence that customer data or photos were inappropriately transferred or that anyone was photographed by these former employees,” an Apple representative said. “We have met with our store team to let them know about the investigation and inform them about the steps Apple is taking to protect their privacy.”

What do you think about this massive photo sharing charade? Let us know in the comments!