When 59 year old Anthea Grant succumbed to her battle with cancer earlier this year, she left behind her estate and all her belongings to her two sons. Included with these possessions was her personal iPad.
After her death, Grant’s two sons discovered that they would require their mother’s Apple ID information if they wanted to unlock and use the device. Unfortunately, their mother left them with no such information before passing away.
“I think she had bigger things to worry about,” stated her 26 year old son, Josh Grant.
After realizing they couldn’t get into the iPad, the Grant brothers went to Apple to try and have the company the device. Although the Grants provided Apple with a copy of their mother’s death certificate, Apple requested that a court order be presented in order to have them unlock the device.
I have always been a fan of Apple but this incident has changed my opinion of them completely. Their utter lack of understanding and discretion in a time of great personal sadness has been astonishing. For a company that sells itself on the idea we are all part of one big Apple family, they have been very cold.
It’s certainly a controversial issue. On one hand, Apple should always try to protect the private information of its users, even if they are deceased and the information has been requested by family. Not everyone’s okay with people seeing their personal data after they die, even family. On the other hand, the fact that this family now has a completely useless iPad also seems somewhat silly.
To me, the best solution would be for Apple to do a full wipe of all the information on the iPad and to return it to the family.
