Apple to refund £20m to customers whose children made in-app purchases without their permission

1. Apple to refund £20m to customers whose children made in-app purchases without their permission

   The Independent ‎- by Tim Walker ‎- 8 minutes ago

   Apple is to refund at least $32.5m (£20m) to customers whose children made in-app purchases without their permission, using the parents' ...

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據BBC報導，美國聯邦貿易委員會(FTC)15日表示，蘋果公司(Apple Inc.)同意將許多兒童在家長疏忽或者沒有經過家長同意的情形下，利用行動裝置購買應用程式（APP）的費用全額退費，估計總金額至少有3250萬美元(約新台幣9億7千8百萬元)。

聯邦貿易委員會表示，他們收到了上萬名家長的投訴，表示他們的孩子在使用行動裝置時購買了許多蘋果的應用程式。由於蘋果iOS系統在APP商店購買應用程 式後，有15分鐘的時間可以不用再次輸入密碼，因此不少兒童就在未經許可下，購買了大量的APP程式，有的家長還收到2600美元的帳單，非常傻眼。

家長投訴表示，蘋果應該要在APP的內部購買程序(in-app purchase)上，進行更多的保護行動，以防止兒童進一步為了遊戲虛擬道具需要或者將遊戲升級、新版本等無止盡的消費。

聯邦貿易委員會主席拉米茲(Edith Ramirez)在聲明中提到，這項和解案讓因為蘋果公司不公平的計費方式，而受到傷害的消費者獲得一個公道，不管電子商務進行的場域發生在何地，都應該讓消費者有最基本的保護措施。

蘋果執行長庫克則是透過給內部員工的郵件表示，公司內部的執行方針與聯邦貿易委員會的和解決議一致，蘋果將會制定一個詳細的流程，讓家長退費。蘋果試著聯 絡每一位因此事件受到影響的消費者，一共發送電子郵件給2600萬個客戶，最後收到了將近4萬封的投訴，蘋果也會退給這些家長們所有的費用。

同時，蘋果也被要求必須在3月31日前，將APP商店的收費方式進行修改，往後必須確保消費者清楚且了解相關規定並同意購買，才可以繼續執行結帳動作。

Google and the internet of things

Feathering its Nest

Google splashes out $3.2 billion on Nest, a maker of smart thermostats and smoke alarms 13

• Tony Fadell helped revolutionise the music and phone industries. Now he is turning up the competitive heat in an entirely different field