A report from the Courier Mail claimed that at least four staff members at Apple's Carindale store in Brisbane were fired after they were caught allegedly stealing close-up and explicit images from the phones of customers.
It was claimed the staff members shared them with workers from other stores and ranked their bodies out of 10.
It was also reported that the workers allegedly shared images they had taken of female staff members and customers in the store without their knowledge.
The technology giant has flown in an overseas human resources executive to handle the fallout from the incident, which was first reported earlier this month when a worker at the Carindale store noticed a technician looking through a customer's phone.
“They’ve been taking pictures of them [customers] in store, taking pics off their phones and taking pictures of female staff members,” the worker told the Courier Mail.
“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.
“Everyone feels uncomfortable and the female staff don’t know how to feel because the leadership won’t tell staff who is involved.”
The staff member also claimed that senior Apple staff members refrained from informing customers of the trust breach, saying: “Denying the girls the right to know what has gone on is hiding the guys away from the full brunt of the consequences."
“They were fired, but what about the people they did it to … what about the customers?" the worker added.
In a statement to SBS, the technology giant said: "Apple believes in treating everyone equally and with respect, and we do not tolerate behavior that goes against our values. We are investigating a violation of Apple's business conduct policy at our store in Carindale, where several employees have already been terminated as a result of our findings.”
"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," the statement continued.
"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."
'Ethically outrageous'
Technology expert Trevor Long labelled the incidents "ethically outrageous" and said a measure to prevent a future breach in confidence may be to introduce regulations which ensure that camera phones make a sound when images are taken.
"Cameras are not going to come off phones, but there was a time where it was impossible to mute the shutter. Even though you had your phone on silent, if you took a photo, it would make a noise," he told SBS.
"I believe now on every phone, it’s possible to have the phone muted.
"Let’s be honest, it would be better for society if we know when photos are being taken. If I’m in a public place and someone is taking a photo of me, I can't stop that, but if I know it’s happening, I can ask them to stop.”
Mr Long, who runs the EFTM website which provides information on cars and technology, labelled Apple technicians as "highly skilled", and said their job involved replicating a phone's problems to aid in repair.
“A customer says ‘my phone is doing this’, so they [technicians] have to hold onto it and try to replicate that problem," he said.
"If we were to go to the furthest extreme, in the case that someone has a problem that their phone shuts down or the screen flickers whenever they’re browsing through photos.. that’s the only time it would be acceptable for a technician to be browsing through photos because they’re trying to replicate a problem, otherwise I see no reason why they should open the photos app."
SBS has contacted Apple for further comment.
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