An Apple whistleblower, who was sacked for leaking confidential information after raising privacy concerns as well as claims of sexism and bullying, has lodged official complaints with a raft of data protection authorities over alleged breaches of data laws.
Former senior Apple engineer Ashley Gjøvik says she has rifled off complaints to the UK Information Commissioner’s Office, and its counterparts in France, Belgium and Ireland over potential breaches of data protection legislation.
In the 54-page document, Gjøvik claims that she publicly expressed concerns about Apple “pressuring its employees to participate in invasive data collection procedures, including scans of ears/ear canals”.
She maintains that unlawful data collection and invasive privacy practices have been ongoing across “multiple countries” for years.
Gjøvik also claims that Apple used an app on employees’ iPhones that “automatically took photos/videos whenever it ‘thought it saw a face’”.
Now, the former Apple employee is urging the data authorities to “open a larger investigation into these topics within Apple’s corporate offices globally”.
Gjøvik added: “Apple claims that human rights do not differ based on geographic location, yet Apple also admits that French and German governments would never allow it to do what it is doing in Cupertino, California and elsewhere.”
Both the ICO and France’s CNIL confirmed they had received the complaint but refused to comment further.
A spokesperson for the Irish DPC, which is already conducting three other official investigations into potential GDPR breaches by Apple, said: “[We] cannot comment on individual cases. All queries that come before the DPC are assessed and progressed in line with the DPC’s complaint-handling functions, where it is appropriate to do so.”
Apple has yet to comment on the issue.
The UK’s ICO recently confirmed a huge increase in complaints from staff wanting to blow the gaffe on their own companies. Between April 1 2020 and March 31 2021, whistleblowers informed the regulator of 309 instances of data breaches over alleged failure to protect information.
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