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Tag: settlement

  • Former iPhone 7 owners begin receiving payouts up to $349 as a result of class action lawsuit

    Former iPhone 7 owners begin receiving payouts up to $349 as a result of class action lawsuit

    If you have an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus model, the legal system just worked in your favor via a class action lawsuit.

    In 2023, Apple agreed to pay $35 million to settle a U.S. class action lawsuit that alleged that both the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models were prone to audio issues caused by a defective chip in the handsets. Customers who submitted a claim have begun to be paid this month.

    Per 9to5Mac, many claimants are receiving approximately $200, but some have received up to a $349 payment.

    The deadline to submit a claim passed last year, so if you are only finding out about this lawsuit now, it is too late to receive a payout.

    The lawsuits class is open to any U.S. resident who owned either an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus between September 16, 2016 and January 3, 2023, so long as they reported audio issues covered by the settlement to Apple, and/or paid Apple out of pocket to have their iPhone repaired or replaced as a result of the covered audio issues. Apple later issued a $349 maximum payout to eligible customers to have the reported issues repaired.

    Once the issue surfaced, Apple was sued in multiple U.S. states in 2019, the complaints alleging that Apple had violated consumer protection laws and breached warranties. Despite agreeing to a settlement, Apple denied any wrongdoing.

    According to an internal document obtained by MacRumors in May 2018, Apple acknowledged a microphone issue affecting some iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus models:

    “Some customers might report that after they’ve updated to iOS 11.3, the microphone on their iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus doesn’t work and the speaker button is grayed out when they make or receive a call.”

    The symptoms included the following issues:

    • The speaker button is grayed out during calls
    • Other people are unable to hear the customer on cellular or FaceTime calls
    • If a customer plays back a video or voice memo that they’ve made after installing iOS 11.3, there is no sound
      The defect is informally known as “Loop Disease” online.

    As for the hardware failure itself, the lawsuit alleged that “the materials used in the ‌iPhone‌’s external casing are insufficient and inadequate to protect the internal parts,” eventually resulting in the audio chip losing electrical contact with the logic board due to “flexion” of the device’s external casing during regular use. It’s unknown how many iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus units were affected in total.

    Apple initially stated that its service providers could request a “warranty exception” for affected iPhones, which resulted in free repairs for at least some customers. Apple appears to have abruptly ended this exception in July 2018 after Apple deleted the document. Afterwards, some customers had to pay an out-of-warranty fee of around $300 in the U.S. for a fix.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and 9to5Mac

  • Apple reiterates commitment to Siri privacy following $95 million class action lawsuit settlement

    Apple reiterates commitment to Siri privacy following $95 million class action lawsuit settlement

    Sometimes an apology (or at least a firm commitment not to do something) is in order.

    Apple on Wednesday reiterated its commitment to Siri privacy, stating that data collected with Siri has never been used to create marketing profiles, nor has any ‌Siri‌ information been made available to advertisers or sold for any purpose. The post comes after the company’s settlement of a class action lawsuit related to Siri in which Apple paid out $95 million. Plaintiffs accused Apple of recording conversations captured after accidental ‌Siri‌ activations, and then sharing information from those conversations with third-party advertisers.

    In the case, two plaintiffs stated that after openly discussing products such as Air Jordan shoes and Olive Garden, their Apple devices began to show ads for those products. Another plaintiff stated that he received ads for a surgical treatment after discussing it privately with his doctor.

    In its full privacy overview, Apple goes into detail on the ‌Siri‌ privacy protections that are in place to keep user data safe. Apple uses on-device ‌Siri‌ processing wherever possible, and minimizes the amount of data that’s collected as much as possible. The searches and requests are not associated with a given Apple Account and cannot be linked to an individual user. Apple has also stated that it uses a random identifier to keep track of data as it’s processed.

    Apple says that it does not retain audio recordings of ‌Siri‌ interactions unless users explicitly opt in to help improve ‌Siri‌, and even then, recordings are used just for that purpose.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via MacRumors and Apple

  • Apple to pay $95 million to settle Siri-related privacy lawsuit

    Apple to pay $95 million to settle Siri-related privacy lawsuit

    $95 million may not mean a ton to Apple these days, but this is still awkward.

    Following a lawsuit brought against the company five years ago in which Apple was hit with a lawsuit over ‘unlawful and intentional recording’ of Siri interactions, the case has reached an end, with Apple agreeing to pay $95 million in a settlement.

    According to Reuters, Apple’s years-long legal battle over Siri recordings is ending in a settlement. The U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White still has to approve the settlement in Oakland, California federal court, but it was submitted with Apple’s agreement Tuesday night.

    Plaintiffs in the 2019 lawsuit alleged that Apple had recorded conversations without offering their consent. These conversations were later shared with third-party services which led to targeted ads. All of this was related to the ‘Hey Siri’ voice activation feature.

    Class action lawsuit members, which are estimated to be in the tens of millions may receive up to $20 per Siri-enabled device, such as iPhones and Apple Watches. Apple has denied any wrongdoing via the settlement.

    The case led to the following changes:
    – An internal review of Siri-related practices, including the use of contractors
    – New permission prompts for Siri audio recording on Apple devices
    and a privacy system you’re likely well acquainted with: ’Ask App Not to Track’
    – Apple’s implemented changes over the years nonetheless have not constituted an admission of guilt, and today’s settlement doesn’t either.

    No details are available yet as to how users can claim their stake in the payout.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac and Reuters

  • T-Mobile fined $15.75M, other fees by FCC following recent data breaches

    T-Mobile fined $15.75M, other fees by FCC following recent data breaches

    This is what happens after a series of data breaches happen on your watch.

    A succession of T-Mobile data breaches over the past three years that saw millions of customers’ data exposed has led to a $15.75M fine by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), with the wireless carrier agreeing to spend the same amount again to upgrade its security.

    The summer of 2021 saw a huge T-Mobile security breach, exposing the personal data of more than 100 million customers. This included sensitive data needed for identity theft, such as home address and date of birth. Another breach followed later the same year, along with others in 2022 and 2023.

    T-Mobile admitted to a third breach in January of this year that impacted 137 million customers. A fourth breach in May of this year also led to social security numbers being compromised.

    The FCC has announced that it reached a “groundbreaking” settlement with respect to three of these cases, and

    The FCC reached what it calls a “groundbreaking” settlement with T-Mobile in respect of three of these cases and announced a data protection and cybersecurity settlement with T-Mobile to resolve the Enforcement Bureau’s investigations into significant data breaches that impacted millions of U.S. consumers.

    T-Mobile has announced that it has agreed to important forward-looking commitments to address foundational security flaws, work to improve cyber hygiene and adopt robust modern architectures, like zero trust and phishing-resistant multi- factor authentication. As part of the settlement, the company will also pay a $15.75 million civil penalty to the U.S. Treasury.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac and fcc.gov

  • Apple, Qualcomm settle years-long legal battle

    Apple, Qualcomm settle years-long legal battle

    After several years of slugging it out in a prolonged patent-based legal battle, Apple and Qualcomm have agreed to a last-minute settlement.

    The first issue began when chipmaker Qualcomm, instead of charging Apple a flat license fee for permission to use its patented technology in iPhones, insisted upon a percentage of the iPhone’s value. Apple felt that this was unfair, as Qualcomm was benefiting from all the other features that went into making a device it could sell for a four-figure sum.

    The second issue stemmed from the fact that although Apple bought its radio chips from Qualcomm, Qualcomm insisted on a patent license as well, a practice Apple referred to as “double-dipping.”

    Apple sued Qualcomm for alleged anti-competitive practices, and Qualcomm countersued when Apple instructed its suppliers to withhold payment.

    In the midst of all this, Apple lost its backup plan of going to Intel, which was getting out of the business of producing 5G smartphone modems. Given that Apple’s own 5G chips were still years away, this left Apple having to deal with Qualcomm. Apple later settled the matter at the beginning of the court case.

    Per Reuters, Qualcomm has now settled the case, agreeing to pay Apple $75 million in compensation. A preliminary all-cash settlement was filed on Tuesday with the federal court in San Diego.

    As part of the terms of the settlement, Qualcomm didn’t admit any wrongdoing.

    Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.

    Via 9to5Mac and Reuters