Apple Gets Sued Over FaceTime Bug That Lets People Eavesdrop
(Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. was sued by a Houston lawyer who claims his iPhone inadvertently allowed an unknown person to eavesdrop on his private conversation with a client.
Apple has come under fire for a bug in its iOS 12.1 iPhone software that lets outsiders listen to conversations held during live video group chats using the company's FaceTime feature.
Attorney Larry Williams II said the glitch intrudes on the privacy of “one's most intimate conversations without consent,” according to the complaint he filed in state court in Houston. He said he was eavesdropped on while taking sworn testimony during a client deposition.
Williams is seeking unspecified punitive damages on his claims of negligence, product liability, misrepresentation and warranty breach.
Apple representatives didn't immediately respond to phone and email messages seeking comment on the complaint.
The bug allowed a user to call someone on FaceTime and automatically begin hearing the other person before they picked up the call. The other person wasn't aware that the caller can hear them.
This glitch would when a user created a FaceTime conference call, put in their phone number, and then added the number of another person. The flaw also allowed video to be sent if the other user clicked either their power button or one of the volume controls.
Apple mitigated the problem on Monday by remotely disabling multi-person FaceTime. It also said it would release a software update later this week to fix the issue.
The case is Williams v Apple Inc., 2019-06645, 133 Judicial District Court, Harris County, Texas (Houston).
--With assistance from Mark Gurman.
To contact the reporter on this story: Laurel Calkins in Houston at lcalkins@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Wollman at ewollman@bloomberg.net, Peter Blumberg
©2019 Bloomberg L.P.
-
High US Salaries, No Green Card Certainty: The Financial Calculation Facing Indian H-1B Families
The suspension of PERM processing at eight technology employers does not cancel existing H-1B visas. What it does is force a question many Indian families have been avoiding: is the US salary worth tying your career and family plans to one employer?
-
Swiggy vs Eternal: Food Delivery's Two Rivals Are No Longer In The Same Race
Eternal is building a private AI assistant, dark.ai. Swiggy is still working out how to make Instamart pay, with an operating loss of Rs 895 crore in the July-September quarter while Blinkit stayed profitable.
-
Where You Live Shapes How You Get To Work | The Reason Why
Two-wheelers are the most popular way to get to work in India, accounting for nearly 43% of workplace commutes.
-
Unhedged Position: Can India See An Indonesia-Style Time Correction?
The Nifty is trading below levels it first clocked in 2024. Is there, then, as I have suggested in the headline, potential that the current time correction drags on painfully for the next three-five, even ten years?
-
Navigating Friction And Energy Realities: An Analysis Of Marco Rubio's October Visit To India
Occurring at a critical juncture marked by stalled trade negotiations and escalating geopolitical pressures over global energy supplies, the visit offers a profound window into modern US-India relations.
-
India Exports Capital. Why Not Export Trusteeship?
The big question, then, is whether India can build an institution that global borrowers, investors, banks, and lawyers can trust, even without an Indian connection.
-
France's Economy & Politics Are In Crisis | The Reason Why
Let's look at how the French economy and politics evolved under Nicolas Sarkozy, Franois Hollande and Emmanuel Macron.
-
You May Inherit The Business. You Must Earn Its Credibility.
Succession tests the founder's ability to share authority as much as it tests the next generation's readiness to assume it.
-
Signing Deals Is One Thing; Making Them Work Is Another | The Week In Whys
Sometimes, things don't turn out as planned. Indian companies have lost some bids to rivals, some projects won't produce until 2030.
-
FOMC Wall, PERM Suspension, Hospital Stocks | Talking Points This Week
A PERM suspension would directly affect green-card sponsorship rather than H-1B visas, so the near-term earnings impact could remain relatively limited. The key question is whether this marks a new phase in US scrutiny of Indian IT.
