Interesting case in Great Britain: A British man wants to sue Apple because the iPhone manufacturer is allegedly responsible for his wife filing for divorce. The Briton, known only under the pseudonym “Richard” in local media, is said to have cheated on his wife with prostitutes. This happened because he was using Apple’s iMessage service to make appointments – and did not know that the deletion only applies to the current device.
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That’s around £5 million
The unfaithful husband was caught because his wife found the messages on the family iMac. “After arranging the meetings (via iMessage on his iPhone), he deleted the messages because he thought they would hide the traces of his infidelity,” writes The Times of London reported on the case last week.
However, when his wife opened iMessage on the iMac, she found the last message to a prostitute – and after some searching, apparently found all the communications he had made with these women over several years. Within a month, she filed for divorce. This was very expensive for “Richard”: the middle-aged businessman, who also had children with his ex-wife, had to pay around 5 million British pounds as part of the divorce – excluding legal fees.
The brutal iMessage truth
The unfaithful husband now wants money – and possibly compensation – from Apple. In his opinion, the company does not make it clear to customers that iMessage messages sent to another iPhone user will also be visible on other connected Apple devices, even if they are deleted from the cell phone. “It’s all very painful and difficult. It was very cruel how my wife found out.” In “Richard’s” opinion, he could have talked to her in other ways “and then maybe we would have been married.”
“Richard” now wants to take action against Apple and has hired a London law firm to do so. In turn, she is thinking big and wants to turn the case into a class action lawsuit. “If there are a few hundred people in the UK who have had to pay divorce fees in a similar way, the damages would be in the billions and maybe even a global problem,” says “Richard.” According to his lawyers, the iPhone only informs users that the messages have been deleted, but does not say that this is not the case on other devices.
(B.Sc.)
