Apple accused of silencing workers, spying on personal devices

[ItsjustMe]

Apple accused of silencing workers, spying on personal devices

Apple has been accused in a new lawsuit of illegally monitoring its workers' personal devices and iCloud accounts while also barring them from discussing their pay and working conditions.

The complaint filed in California state court on Sunday by Amar Bhakta, who works in digital advertising for Apple, claims the company requires employees to install software on personal devices that they use for work allowing Apple to access their email, photo libraries, health and "smart home" data and other personal information.

At the same time, the lawsuit alleges, Apple imposes confidentiality policies that prohibit employees from discussing working conditions, including with the media, and engaging in legally-protected whistleblowing.

Bhakta, who has worked for Apple since 2020, says he was barred from talking about his work on podcasts and instructed to remove information about his working conditions from his LinkedIn profile.

"Apple's surveillance policies and practices chill, and thus also unlawfully restrain, employee whistleblowing, competition, freedom of employee movement in the job market, and freedom of speech," the lawsuit said.

[2naSalit]

1. Sounds like...

Complete invasion of privacy.

[exboyfil]

2. My old employer had an app you were supposed to load onto your personal phone

to use it as a company phone. I always thought that was odd and never did it.

[Dave Bowman]

3. Big brother is alive and well.

[Passages]

4. Such a "liberal" minded company.

[Basso8vb]

5. I started elementary school just a few blocks away from Cupertino in 1976.

It's fair to say that I grew up with and alongside Apple. Several of my friends' parents worked there from the 70s through 90s.

I no longer recognize that company.

Add their latest "We translate everything from complete dumbass to English" ad campaign to the mix and you realize they're completely through the looking glass now.