Access Denied

A Canadian widow was told by Apple that if she wanted her dead husband’s account, she needs to get a court order. 72 year-old Peggy Bush is currently in a battle with Apple to get her husband’s account. Peggy and her husband shared an iPad which she used to play games on, but the iPad has now stopped working. Peggy’s daughter tried for two months to retrieve the password but failed to do so. Apple told them that they required a court order to receive the password. Eventually, the family got fed up and went public with their story. After the story broke, Apple apologized but they still didn’t give the password out. Apple stated that the “account is non-transferable and that any rights to your Apple ID or content within your account terminate upon your death. Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate your account may be terminated and all content within your account deleted.”

Peggy said that “I thought it was ridiculous. I could get the pensions, I could get benefits, I could get all kinds of things from the federal government and the other government. But from Apple, I couldn’t even get a silly password. It’s nonsense.” While it may seem that Apple is being a real jerk, I understand Apple. David Bush, Peggy’s husband, may have stuff on his account that he may not have wanted his wife to see and have access to. Apple believes in privacy and encryption which I love about them. The one big problem I have with Apple is that if an Apple device is locked to an Apple account, you can’t reset the device. So, the iPad is bricked and can’t be used at all. Apple should at least help Peggy reset the iPad and help her re-download her games. Today, we take for granted our ability to be tech savvy while there’s people like Peggy who cannot even download a single app. As of today, the family still does not have the password.