Last week, a standard-issue time lapse video that ended with a showcase of Apple's new iPhone X went viral on YouTube. There's nothing especially remarkable about this, with dozens of videos hyping the tech company's new flagship device already getting tens millions of views combined. However, what makes this particular video noteworthy is that it led to the dismissal of an Apple engineer whose phone was caught on camera.
Brooke Peterson, a woman who was raised in Southern California, uploaded the video of some time she spent at Apple's compound with her family last week, including footage that she filmed of her father's special employee iPhone X. Much to her surprise, it gained a lot of traction on YouTube, prompting Apple's request that she take the video down. “Apple, of course, asked me to take it down,” Peterson explained in a response video that you can watch below. “And I took it down right when they asked me to because I respect Apple. I had no idea that this was a violation.”
The violation was serious indeed. It's reasonably well-known that Apple doesn't take kindly to any recording that is done on their premises. Furthermore, Peterson's dad's phone contained some information about yet-to-be-released products that were more than likely deemed too sensitive to be excusable. “This wasn’t a garden variety iPhone X,” Jon Fingas of Engadget added. “As an employee device, it had sensitive information like codenames for unreleased products and staff-specific QR codes.” As a result, Peterson's dad is now out as an Apple engineer a week before the new device is set to hit store shelves.
“At the end of the day, when you work for Apple it doesn’t matter how good of a person you are,” Peterson continued. “If you break a rule, they just have no tolerance. They had to do what they had to do. I’m not mad at Apple. I’m not going to stop buying Apple products.” She also called out those hating on her dad's decorum when it comes to Apple's unwritten code, insisting that he was not in the wrong. "You know what, guys? Hate on me all you want," she stated. "But please don’t hate on my father because he is the best person. I have absolutely no tolerance for the people who think that they know him. And, for the people who are calling us names, I don’t understand the amount of hate that is in this world.”