With Apple rolling out their new Group Facetime, some bugs have surfaced with the recent release. Most of these bugs were easily fixable, but one specific glitch has allowed people to be able to break the privacy that Apple has promised from the very beginning. Using a glitch recently discovered by a fourteen year old, one was able to make Facetime calls to anyone in their contacts and even before the other person answers, they can listen to whatever the person is doing, without any form of permission. Typically, this glitch allows the caller to hear a few seconds before the call is picked up. Many people were infuriated that their privacy was being compromised before a simple Facetime call, and feared that their loved ones might hear what they say right before they answer. Apple has recently disabled the Group Facetime feature in order to stop this bug from occurring until they fix the problem, in which they ruled out a statement to the Washington Post saying, “We’re aware of this issue and we have identified a fix that will be released in a software update later this week.” However, some people have not taken the break of privacy lightly. A lawsuit is being pursued by a law firm based in Montreal against Apple, which is seeking compensation from Apple for all Canadians who use Apple products, including Mac, Apple Watch, and the iPhone. Apple is also handling other lawsuits in Houston, Texas and New York. The company remains in hot water due to their lack of responses towards innocent Apple users looking for answers.

    The Facetime glitch was jumped on a week after its discovery, when a fourteen year old boy accidentally discovered the bug when calling his friend. His mother, Michele Thompson, submitted a video of the new found bug to Apple support, hoping for assistance. Thompson also reached out to Apple via social media to get in contact with them and quickly the posts went viral. Not only did Apple not listen, but they did not get back to her before it was too late. New York Times states that “the bug, and Apple’s slow response to patching it, have renewed concerns about the company’s commitment to security, even though it regularly advertises its bug reward program and boasts about the safety of its products.” With Apple allowing these kind of security breaches and not jumping on them until they become mainstream, who knows how hackers on the internet are invading our privacy on all Apple devices? The company still has not commented on the slow response on the problem and how the issue wasn’t looked upon immediately when Thompson submitted her video of the bug in the first place. Not only this, but the mother and son might be entitled to compensation because of their discovery. Reported in The New York Times, “at a hacker conference that year in Las Vegas, Apple made a surprise announcement: It said it would start paying rewards as high as $200,000 to hackers who responsibly turned over crucial flaws in its products.” With this information, Thompson and her son should be given a reward for finding this discovery before anyone else, but since Apple never looked upon her video until it became mainstream and everyone was complaining about the issue, it doesn’t seem that it will be happening. These lawsuits on Apple need to be looked upon and maybe Thompson should submit her own lawsuit for being the first known discovery of the bug against Apple, as she has the evidence of the money she deserves for sending the video to before publicly presenting it. Apple is an incredibly large company with popular products, however, they are using false advertising to make privacy promises they cannot keep. Individuals should take a step back and take a good look at this corporation and how they are treating their customers who are having issues. Though this glitch is small, new and undiscovered glitches in the future could be even more severe, embarrassing, and perhaps put people in harm’s way. Realizing that Apple is a huge company looking to make a quick profit and sell more of their products with a fast turn around may impact how our society views the loved iPhone and MacBook.