It's not another Celebgate, but Apple is once again involved in a scandal involving pictures as Apple Store employees in Australia were found to have been rating female customers based on photos of them that were secretly taken.
Four male employees in the Carindale Apple Store in Brisbane have been fired for their actions, which saw them taking secret pictures of female customers as well as female staff. The employees were also said to have stolen intimate pictures from the iPhones that customers have left in the store for repairs.
The photos were then shared and swapped among the employees in what was termed as a "photo-sharing ring," with the subjects of the pictures then being given a rating from 1 to 10 based on their bodies.
"More than 100 close-up and explicit photos were taken of female staff and customers without their knowledge and photographs were also lifted from some Apple customers' phones," the Courier Mail reported.
The actions of the four employees that were fired over the incident were discovered when one of the Apple Store staff members saw one of them looking through the picture of a customer's iPhone while inside the repair room.
Apple is taking the incident seriously, with the company said to have sent an HR executive to Brisbane to handle the fallout of the scandal. Apple has confirmed that the Carindale store is under investigation for possible violations of the company's business conduct policies, with the company reiterating that it does not tolerate behavior that goes against its values.
Apple, however, has denied that pictures have been stolen from the iPhones of customers that were left at the store for repairs. Based on the company's investigation so far, there is no evidence that photos or data were stolen from customer devices.
In addition, Apple said that it has found no evidence that female customers or staff were photographed by the four male employees that were fired.
The Courier Mail report, however, noted the sentiments of one of the Apple Store employees on the concern that a similar practice could be happening in other Apple Store locations in Queensland and Sydney.
Another employee told the Courier Mail that all the female staff in the Carindale Apple Store feel uncomfortable, as they are not being told who is involved in the scandal.
The incident comes just a month after leaked emails revealed a toxic and sexist work environment at Apple, with female employees reporting cases such as rape jokes and harassment.
