Lawyer Sues Apple Over FaceTime Eavesdrop Bug, Says It Let Someone Record a Sworn Testimony (cnbc.com)

A lawyer in Houston has filed a lawsuit against Apple over a security vulnerability that let people eavesdrop on iPhones using FaceTime. "His lawsuit, filed Monday in Harris County, Texas, alleges that Apple 'failed to exercise reasonable care' and that Apple 'knew, or should have known, that its Product would cause unsolicited privacy breaches and eavesdropping,'" reports CNBC. "It alleged Apple did not adequately test its software and that Apple was 'aware there was a high probability at least some consumers would suffer harm.'" From the report: The suit says that Williams was "undergoing a private deposition with a client when this defective product breached allowed for the recording" of the conversation. Williams claimed this caused "sustained permanent and continuous injuries, pain and suffering and emotional trauma that will continue into the future" and that Williams "lost ability to earn a living and will continued to be so in the future." The lawsuit also says that iOS 12.1, the latest major release of the iPhone operating system, was defective and "unreasonable dangerous" and that Apple "failed to provide adequate warnings to avoid the substantial danger" posed by the security flaw. Williams is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as a result of the exploit.

Comments

Re:No standard on testing - wild wild west

[Zocalo]

You don't generally include the actual evidence in an indictment or similar, only state the facts that you believe you are capable of proving in a court of law. The crux of this claim seems to be Clause 6 of the Factual Background:

Plaintiff was undergoing a private disposition with a client when the this [sic] defective product breach allowed for the recording of a private deposition."

"Allowed for the recording" could just mean that the possibility was there, or it could mean that an actual recording took place. No way to tell unless Williams has evidence of the recording, which is possible if you assume that was the reason for the harm and loss of living alledged in Clause 30, which seems rather hyperbolic to say the least; this somehow resulted in "physical pain" and "diminished quality of life"? Unless his client got physical upon finding out or something, I'm not sure how that's supposed to work, and if anything makes this sound much more like an attempt at a cash grab, quite possibly with aspirations for class status.

Re: I really hope this guy get drop-kicked in the

[jellomizer]

Or are you just a pure Apple Hater?

Americans no matter their political leaning, really don't like the idea of legal suits over small and silly things, where the lawyer then exaggerates the amount of suffering caused. Often shown on TV with the "victim" in a neck brace trope.

Accidents occur and people get hurt. But the line between frivolous vs necessary legal action is needed. You go to a restaurant, and you get ill the next day, and sue the restaurant, that is frivolous, if you go to the restaurant and dozens of folks get ill the next day, then there is a problem.

Suing for the quick money grab, will often hinder a businesses ability to do good things, because they have to walk on eggshells and be sure not to break the rules. You may notice this effect if you are at a hospital, and the x-ray tech will not comment if you arm is broken or not, but you wait a half an hour and the doctor walks in glances at the X-Ray and says yep its broken. The reason for this, isn't because the doctor will get paid more for doing this, but because if the tech explains this to a patient, then they are doing a diagnosis that they are not qualified to do. And if the patient does something stupid from that initial diagnosis from the unqualified individual, then the hospital is legally responsible for this.

Re: No standard on testing - wild wild west

[MachineShedFred]

More than that, why did he have any phones at all in the room while taking a secret deposition?

Not like it's news that phones can record audio and transmit it to other people - that's kind of the fucking point.