In a drastic legal step that will have set alarm bells ringing through the tech back, Apple has sued YouTuber Jon Prosser for leaking information about iOS 26 prior to launch. Or more specifically for the methods he allegedly used to get this information.
As reported by macumors, the company filed a lawsuit on Thursday (Scribd Link) against Prosser and his associated Michael Ramacciotti, where they claimed the wrong of trade. The case accuses the two of a “coordinated scheme” of breaking into a “development” iPhone, stealing apple secrets from it and taking advantage of them, thereby harming the company and its employees.
“The defendant’s mismatch was brave and creepy,” claims suit. “After Mr Prosser was told that Mr Ramacciotti needed money and that his friend Ethan Lipnik worked at Apple on non-released software design, the defendants jointly planned to access Apple’s confidential and business information through Mr. Lipnik’s Apple-owned Development iPhone.
“While living at Lipnik’s home, Mr Ramacciotti used Location Tracking to decide when Mr Lipnik would be gone for a long period, acquired his password and broke into his development iPhone, which Mr. Lipnik had failed to be properly secure according to Apple’s policy. iOS 19 [later announced as iOS 26] Operating system. “
Apple is famous for the eagerness with whom the company protects its secrets, but this may be the most aggressive step it has taken against a leak since Gizmodo editor Jason Chen’s home was attacked in 2010.
IOS 26, Apple’s latest iPhone Software Update, was revealed at WWDC in June, but as is often the case with non -released Apple products, it would have been the subject of intense and argumentative speculation long before then. In March, Prosser released a video that claimed to offer “Your very first look at iOS 19” and later showed a screen of the new message app in a podcast. (It is possible that these videos will be taken down as the trial progresses, so if you read this in the future, you may need to take our words for it.) Fellel Delicious Mark Gurman then claimed that iOS 19 screen photos that performed the rounds – probably including Prosser’s Screenshot, but not named him – was “Unlimming” before Prosser was finally ever. “
It now seems if we are to believe Apple’s version of events that Prosser was so Bullish about his information because it had been acquired from one of Apple’s own devices running a prior release of the software.
But Prosser claims something else. In a couple of answers to Macrumors’ Tweet about this story, YouTuber says “Things Things Don’t Go At My End” and “I certainly haven’t” ploted “to access someone’s phone and was unaware that the situation was playing.” It seems to suggest that although Ramacciotti may have actually lifted the information from Lipnik’s iPhone, Prosser did not ask for this to happen or know when it did.
(It is also striking that the first word in his answer is simply “interesting.” It’s a amazing Quiet reaction to being sued by one of the largest and most litigic companies in the world. He is an unusual character that we found when we interviewed him back in 2020.)
It will be interesting to see how this step affects the flow of information through the tech back: Whether leaks will be cowed in silence, even if only temporarily and whether their sources dry up. Of course, it raises the question of how leaks acquire their information about non -published iOS buildings, if not through methods similar to the one described in this trial. How did Gurman know about iOS 19/26? Will he be sued? Is there a legitimate way to leak?
All of these questions and more will be answered in the coming months. We will follow the case as it progresses and reports the big development here at Macworld.