Apple Accused of Staff Surveillance and Censorship in Lawsuit

In the second case in less than two months, Apple is being accused of illegally surveilling and censoring employees.

A lawsuit has been brought against the company by a current employee who claims that the company is forcing its staff to sign policies, which gives over access to their devices and iCloud accounts.

This comes as the company is fighting allegations from the US National Labor Relations board that it is monitoring and restricting employees’ conversations on Slack.

Apple Surveillance Lawsuit

The new lawsuit, which was first reported by Semafor, was brought by Amar Bhakta, who works for Apple as a digital ad tech operations manager. It hinges on the policies that new hires have to sign when they come on board. The Business Conduct Policy has come under specific scrutiny.

Bhakta alleges that the company insists that all workers use Apple computers, phones, and cloud services and this “subjects its employees to surveillance and forces their patronage through the monetization of employee personal data as a condition of their employment.”

Apple Activities Described as Invasive and Illegal

In particular, the lawsuit points to the fact that employees are asked by Apple to install an electronic sim card or virtual private network, says Gizmodo. This allows the company to access data stored on employees’ devices as well as tracking their locations. This is particularly problematic when many employees use their personal Apple devices for work.

Additionally, the lawsuit talks about Apple’s stipulation that staff use its iCloud service. This means it gets unrestricted access to data that “…can include email, contacts, reminders, entire photo libraries, internet browsing data, health data, messages, ‘smart home’ data, passwords, apps, files, documents, calendars, notes and backups,” the lawyers state.

Allegations of Censorship by Apple

Echoing the previously mentioned Slack case in October, Bhakta’s case also includes the allegation that Apple’s policies restrict what information its employees can share and this is in violation of California’s labor law.

He shared that he was told by Apple that he was not allowed to give public talks about his area of expertise. He says that he was also asked to remove a post on LinkedIn, in which he had talked about workplace conditions.

“Being able to speak openly about my work is so important to me professionally and personally,” Bhakta said in a statement. “It’s disappointing that Apple, whose ethos is privacy and confidentiality, would try to monitor and censor me. That hurts my ability to advance professionally. I hope this complaint causes Apple to change their approach to monitoring employees outside of work and reminds employees that they have the power to stand up too.”

Apple has yet to comment on the case.