NY AG Investigating Apple FaceTime Bug

Andrew Cuomo, governor of New York, said the attorney general is investigating Apple after a privacy flaw revealed that FaceTime users could listen in on people they called before the recipient accepted or rejected the call, according to a report in Bloomberg.

The probe will be a joint investigation by New York Attorney General Letitia James and Governor Cuomo’s office and will focus on Apple’s alleged failure to contact customers about the bug and the company’s slow response time to fix the issue.

“This FaceTime breach is a serious threat to the security and privacy of the millions of New Yorkers who have put their trust in Apple and its products over the years,” James said.

The glitch occurs when someone creates a conference call in FaceTime, types in a number and then adds another. The bug also sends video to the other person if they click on the power button or volume controls.

On Monday (Jan. 28), Apple disabled conference FaceTime calls. A software update will come later in the week, the company said.

“We need a full accounting of the facts to confirm businesses are abiding by New York consumer protection laws and to help make sure this type of privacy breach does not happen again,” Cuomo said.

On Tuesday, a lawyer from Houston filed a lawsuit against Apple, saying the glitch let someone listen to him while he was taken sworn testimony during a client deposition.

Earlier this month, Apple CEO Tim Cook revealed to employees that the company will cut back on hiring for some divisions.

Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg reported that the move is due to weak iPhone sales, as well as the company slashing its revenue forecast for the holiday quarter. Cook, however, assured employees that Apple would not be implementing a hiring freeze. While he has yet to decide which divisions will be impacted by the hiring reductions, he did note that groups such as the artificial intelligence team would still continue to bring on new talent.