A father of two girls in Pennsylvania is taking Apple to court for allegedly banking millions of dollars on unauthorized in-app purchases.
Garen Meguerian of Phoenixville, Penn., is the lead plaintiff in the class action lawsuit against Apple, Apple Insider reports. Meguerian claims that the company's old approach to in-app purchases on iOS devices allowed his 9 year-old daughter to purchase roughly $200 in virtual goods without permission.
The problem, Meguerian explained, was that after entering a password to download an app, users had a 15-minute window to purchase whatever they liked without entering the password again, including in-app purchases.
The lawsuit acknowledges that Apple changed its approach with iOS 4.3, requiring a password for all in-app purchases, but not before the company allegedly pocketed "millions of dollars" on unauthorized purchases. It's not clear from Apple Insider's report how Meguerian arrived at those figures.
Meguerian's lawsuit says the new in-app purchasing method still isn't good enough, because it doesn't protect against instances where the child already knows the parent's iTunes password. Honestly, I'm not sure what he expects Apple to do about that. Ever since Apple enabled in-app purchases in 2009, parents have been able to restrict this feature with parental controls, behind a separate PIN. At a certain point, the parent has to take some responsibility.
Still, Apple's approach to in-app purchases was too lax before iOS 4.3, making it too easy for kids to rack up charges without parents' knowledge. Whether that should amount to damage payments for Meguerian and other parents is for the court to decide.
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Comments received
Dragonfly said on Mon, 18 Apr 2011
The solution.... A pocket money fund for children with iPod touches and iPhones. They have a password and a certain amount of pocket money credited to their accounts by their parents. They can buy as much virtual crap as they like, until their pocket money runs out.
Whomever came up with selling virtual things is a genius, I've got a brand new Virtual McLaren MP4-12C for sale if anyone's interested (it's grey / silver) only £50,000 Bargain !. I'll email it to you, in the form of a text document, as soon as funds have cleared.
Mark Hattersley said on Mon, 18 Apr 2011
Much as though I hate class action lawsuits I do think Apple made it too easy to make accidental purchases, and even now you should have to enter your password every time you make a purchase.
I also believe the lack of a refund mechanism is another lawsuit waiting to happen.
People should also be able to set limits on the amount that can be spent on an iTunes account in a month before visiting the account page.
Basically Apple has done a great job setting up the store, but I think there's work to be done to keep parents confident as the iPhone and iPad become increasingly mainstream.
MadAxeManUK said on Mon, 18 Apr 2011
Moreover, from very early in iTunes Music Store history it was possible to set up an account for a child, with their own password, without a Credit Card attached, and set an allowance on it. Thereby setting a limit for their spending.
So nice try, but "No dice Chicago!"
(>|<)
MadAxeManUK said on Mon, 18 Apr 2011
I don't like class actions either, but I think that the plaintiff may be on a sticky wicket here.
He is essentially saying that he allows a 3rd person access to his iTunes account without authority. Which is contrary to there terms of use:
"You are entirely responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of the information you hold for your account, including your password, and for any and all activity that occurs under your account as a result of your failing to keep this information secure and confidential..."
Also, the final user that made those purchases is also in contravention of the terms of use by using another persons account without authority:
"You may not use anyone else’s Apple ID, ..."
I am sure that the lawyers will have a field day with those conditions.
ari-boy said on Tue, 19 Apr 2011
Yep, what MadAxeManUk said.
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