Apple Facing A Bunch Of Lawsuits After Admitting It Slows Down Older Devices, But Insisting It's For A Good Reason

from the yes,-but... dept

There was a bit of controversy last week concerning Apple slowing down older devices. It started, as so many things do, with a Reddit post, noting that Apple appeared to be slowing down the processor on phones with older batteries. Geekbench's John Poole then ran some tests confirming this. Apple then confirmed that it was doing so. All three of those links above also present the reason for this -- which is not necessarily a nefarious one -- though that doesn't necessarily mean it's a good explanation either. In short, it was a solution to a problem of older batteries causing "spontaneous" or "unexpected shutdowns."

But, of course, slowing down the phone to avoid those kinds of shutdowns still has the impact of reduced performance on older phones -- which ultimately angers users or makes them feel like they need to upgrade before they really do. This wouldn't necessarily be a huge issue if two things were true: (1) it was easy to replace the batteries and (2) Apple was clear and upfront about this -- telling people they could avoid this issue by replacing the battery. Neither of those things are true. Apple makes it quite difficult to replace the batteries (though, not impossible) and only now is explaining this "hack."

And, because this is America, lawsuits are already being filed. Multiple lawsuits. I imagine that they'll all be combined at some point into a giant class action, though I'm not sure how much of a chance this case has of going very far. Either way, I'd post the lawsuits, but as I type this PACER appears to not be working properly, and I really doubt there's much that's interesting in the complaints anyway.

What's more interesting here is the troubling nature of just how much control over our devices we've given to the companies who sell us stuff. This all goes back to the theme that we've discussed many times around here, of how we no longer seem to own what we've ostensibly purchased. The fact that a company such as Apple can sneak in and change our settings in a way that harms overall performance -- even if it claims it has a good reason to -- is something that concern us all. And that's especially true as more and more of our devices have such connectivity... and our own ability to get in and fix stuff is more and more limited.

Filed Under: batteries, class action lawsuit, iphone
Companies: apple

Class Action Lawsuit Filed Against Instagram Because People Still Don't Like Its Terms Of Service

from the and-some-class-action-lawyers-want-to-get-rich dept

We've discussed plenty of times how class action lawsuits too often are about nothing more than some lawyers shaking down a company, hoping for a "settlement" in which the lawyers make out with millions while the "class" they represents gets very little, if anything. Yes, the class action system serves a purpose, but it seems like it's way too easily abused. Any time anyone gets upset about anything you can expect a class action lawsuit to be filed within days. Indeed, you may recall last week there was a but of a hubbub around Instagram's planned new terms of service, which really didn't say anything that new or surprising, but the online world ran with it in full outrage mode. In response, Instagram agreed to change the new terms and eventually agreed to keep much of the existing terms of service in place.

However, it appears that wasn't enough to satisfy some class action lawyers, who quickly whipped together an angry lawsuit about how awful (just awful!) Instagram's terms of service are. You can read the full complaint here and try not to laugh as the lawyers try to come up with any theory under the sun as to why the terms are somehow breaking the law. The lawyers are arguing that a small change in the standard boilerplate language used by nearly every single service online is some sort of breach of an "implied contract."

They also argue that merely putting into the terms the idea that you agree to allow them to use a photo in association with an advertisement constitutes a violation of California's publicity rights law. That's somewhat insane. The way you get around violating a publicity rights claim is to get people to license their works, and now these lawyers are arguing that in trying to get Instagram users to licenses their works, that alone violates the publicity rights law? Really? That's like saying that it's illegal for you to enter my house without signing a contract, but the second you ask for the contract, that's considered trespassing.

In the end, it's difficult to see what actual damage they'll show has occurred here. And there's a simple existing solution: if you don't like the terms, don't use the service. This isn't complicated.

Filed Under: breach of contract, class action, class action lawsuit, terms of service
Companies: facebook, instagram

For All The Talk From Hollywood About Making Sure People Get Paid, Why Doesn't It Pay Interns?

from the because-it's-never-been-about-getting-anyone-paid-by-studio-bosses dept

We hear the refrain from the entertainment industry all the time, about how they are fighting against modern technology because without it, people don't get paid, and how unfair is that? The RIAA's Cary Sherman keeps talking about all those lost jobs (even though his math doesn't add up), and talking about all the people the movie industry "employs" (exaggerated by an order of magnitude) has become a key part of the MPAA boss Chris Dodd's stump speech.

So, isn't it interesting that the entertainment industry may be facing a potentially big class action problem... for not paying interns? Apparently, it's quite common for entertainment industry heavyweights to take on unpaid interns, usually eager kids hoping to "break into" the business. But, federal law (and the key state laws) are pretty explicit in noting that "free" internships are almost always illegal for for-profit companies.

Now, to be clear, I actually don't think free internships -- entered into willingly -- should be illegal (just as I don't think there's anything wrong with people volunteering to do stuff for free). But if Hollywood is running around whining about getting more people paid... it seems pretty hypocritical to then not pay people working for you.

Filed Under: class action lawsuit, hollywood, interns, movie industry, paying

The Wii Might Not Be Much Exercise, But Suing Nintendo For Self-Promotion Is

from the and-1-and-2-and-file-and-sue dept

The Nintendo Wii has been the subject of class-action lawsuits before, but this could be a new low: some guy now claims he's preparing another one for the company to deal with, because he alleges Nintendo misrepresents the Wii as a fitness tool when it actually contributes to obesity. He equates Nintendo to tobacco companies misrepresenting the safety of their products, but as Engadget points out, he's not just some do-gooder concerned about the health of America, he's also somebody who makes his living from it, and apparently has a fitness radio show that's about to launch. Somehow it's hard to imagine this suit will get anywhere; but we also imagine it was never really meant to anyway.

Filed Under: class action lawsuit, fitness, wii
Companies: nintendo

Will Spore DRM Become EA's Rootkit Moment?

from the increasing-parallels dept

With the news coming out that some purchasers of the video game Spore have filed a class action lawsuit against EA for its inclusion of SecuROM DRM, it's reaching the point where you have to wonder if this is becoming EA's "rootkit" moment. The parallels are there. Both involved an overly draconian form of DRM that severely limited how a "purchased" product could be used. Both involved hidden files installed on a computer -- and both resulted in massive backlash from consumers, and a very slow response from the company. And, of course, the rootkit resulted in class action lawsuits as well. At some point, perhaps, companies will start to realize that treating your customers as criminals is probably a bad idea.

Filed Under: backlash, class action lawsuit, drm, rootkit, spore