Apple faces lawsuit over FaceTime bug as lawyer says someone eavesdropped on a sworn testimony

Chance Miller | Jan 29 2019 - 7:02 pm PT

Apple is being hit with its first lawsuit over the FaceTime eavesdropping bug that we first reported on yesterday. As reported by Bloomberg, a Houston, Texas-based lawyer is suing Apple, alleging that the FaceTime flaw allowed an unknown person to listen in on a private conversation with a client.

The complaint, filed in state court in Houston, says that the eavesdropping bug is a significant violation of privacy:

Attorney Larry Williams II said the glitch intrudes on the privacy of “one’s most intimate conversations without consent,” according to the complaint he filed in state court in Houston. He said he was eavesdropped on while taking sworn testimony during a client deposition.

Williams is seeking punitive damages on claims of product liability, negligence, warranty breach, and misrepresentation. This almost certainly won’t be the only lawsuit Apple faces over the eavesdropping FaceTime bug, but it does appear to be the first.

While reports suggest Apple was first alerted to this major FaceTime security hole earlier this month, it didn’t gain widespread attention until yesterday. Essentially, the bug allowed someone to FaceTime you and hear your audio before you answered the call. Since the flaw was publicized, Apple has temporarily taken Group FaceTime offline and promised that a fix is coming later this week.

Apple did not comment on the allegations made in the lawsuit, nor has it offered any additional information on how close it is to releasing a full fix for the FaceTime eavesdropping bug.