Plaintiffs allege iTunes App Store makes it too easy for children to spend 'real' money.
US resident Garen Meguerian filed the suit in the US District Court in the Northern District of California on behalf of himself and other parents over unauthorised charges for game-related content.
He claims his youngest daughter was allowed to download a number of free games including Zombie Cafe, Treasure Story and City Story, without realising these titles offered in-app purchases costing real credit card money.
She racked up bills of around $200.
The lawsuit notes that Apple has addressed the issue by requiring a password for in-app purchases.
Previously, iOS offered a 15-minute window during which additional purchases could be made without entering the password.
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Meguerian alleges this let Apple profit from unauthorised transactions, and that the revised policy doesn't go far enough because it uses the same password as for any app purchase.
The lawsuit asserts that many children will know this password.
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This is ridiculous, it sounds like the lawsuit that the guy brought against McDonalds for making him fat! First of all don't give the password to your kids, would you give your cash card pin number to them? I have a 3yo and a 7yo and neither of them have the password and when they get to a stage where an app is asking for money they had it to one of us to decide. At what point do parents think it's ok to absolve themselves of responsibilty and then blame other people for problems occuring! He deserves everything he's got as far as i'm concerned.
Karl Jayasingha Apr 18th 2011 at 8:43PM
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