In the latest story illustrating the government’s insistence at sticking its nose where it doesn’t belong, Industrygamers reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is “investgating” Apple’s iOS in-app purchases to see if they pass muster with the Feds.
[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]But this isn’t over what you might think. Publishers and developers bitch about how Apple’s new subscription service is going to put them out of business because of Apple’s 30 percent cut, but the Federals are more interested in knowing how Apple is facilitating the illicit trafficking of Smurfberries to innocent children.
Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) set the wheels of government bureaucracy in motion after reading an article in a newspaper, according to the report. Markey claimed the Washington Post “broke the story earlier this month,” apparently missing Associated Press articles about Smurfs’ Village in-app purchases that have been circulating since December.
Nefarious eight year old hacker uses clever social engineering tactics to overcome Apple safeguards
Markey sent a letter to the FTC after the Washington Post published an article earlier this month suggesting that an eight year old girl had rung up $1,400 in in-game purchases while playing an iPhone game called Smurfs’ Village.
The game, developed by Capcom, uses an in-app purchase mechanism that enables players to acquire new items using Smurfberries, which are purchased for real money.
Apple password-protects in-app purchases and also enables parents to restrict in-app purchases all together. In fact, Apple has been at the forefront of tightening restrictions on how purchases can be made, and its system is a great model for handheld and casual gaming.
The article indicates that the girl at the center of the controversy was able to use her parents’ password by asking her older sister. Obviously an issue that’s Apple’s fault, and definitely worthy of thorough government investigation.
Little Madison’s mother, meanwhile, complains that the game “preyed on children,” apparently oblivious to her incompetence at securing her mobile device.
FTC chairman Jon Leibowitz wrote back to Rep. Markey. “Let me assure you we will look closely at the current industry practice with respect to the marketing and delivery of these types of applications,” he responded.
“I am pleased that the FTC has responded, and as the use of mobile apps continues to increase, I will continue to actively monitor developments in this important area,” said Markey.
We at The Loop are delighted to know that protectors of freedom like Congressmen Ed Markey of Massachusetts are watching out for the consumer and keeping the gears of government turning by keeping a careful eye out on two-month old tech stories and making mountains from molehills no matter where they be.
I blame Gargamel
We’ve never needed the Congressional Office of Technological Assessment more, if only to forestall useless investigations like this one.
I take a different view of this. It is not impossible that an unscrupulous company would prey on children in a situation such as this. We look to our elected officials to make sure that predators are not able to use loopholes in the law or regulations to steal from us. The congressperson forwarded the issue to the agency that has the authority and responsibility to make sure that the public isn’t screwed.
What the FCC will find in this case is what you already know–there are safeguards built into the system, and there is no culpability on Apple’s part for the failure of the parent. But I can imagine a case where it was not so clear cut, and this is the proper avenue to make sure that the public isn’t being sold a product that is intended to steal from us.
LOL
“and turning mountains into molehills no matter where they be.”
I think you got that backwards. Markey is turning a molehill into a mountain.
The article would be more interesting if you had any suggestions for how these situations should be dealt with. Anyone who thinks that Smurfberries are not a cynical exercise in parting naive parent from large amounts of their hard earned cash is a fool.
There has always been a need for governments to protect the innocent from snakeoil salesmen and carpetbaggers of which there has been a long and colourful histery in the U.S.
I wrote a little more flammatory article in dutch on my own site about this hoopla. Yes, this is a way for capcom to make lots of cash on smurfberrie purchases, but this is not different than going to a car garage for a new car. Yes, I can make a testdrive, fiddle with the knobs and settings, but if I want to have it, or customize it to my needs, I *must purchase it*!
Smurfs is no different.
I always thought a password was personal, not to be shared, and especially one that gives access to your $$$. – but I guess it’s all Apple’s fault that people are too ignorant and stupid to keep this to themselves.
Yes, maybe Apple could make the timeout shorter (now about 15mins before the password is asked again – but if you put the idevice in standby and wakeup the password is cleared instantly – a tip for those that dont know) or maybe they should make an option to disable in-app purchases completely Oh wait, they did.
*nothing* apple does will protect us from sheer stupidity.
So, yes, always good to spend that valuable tax dollars on a useless investigation.
There’s nothing wrong with the freemium model, it’s been there ever since commerce started.
I’m sure this is a great and worthwhile use of taxpayer money.
“I can’t be bothered to look after my own children, or know how to operate things I give to my children. But if something goes wrong, someone has to pay for it. I’m sure as hell not going to take any responsibility.”
Quite right – I reworded it.
I made the point in the article that there’s not a goddamn Apple could have or should do – they already have password protection and the ability to lock in-app purchases out. They’re doing everything they should to prevent careless, casual purchases from occurring – but nothing can stop stupidity and laziness.
I think what Peter wants to say, is that this is part of a bigger problem — parents refusing to be responsible and take responsibility for their children — and this societal problem is being affixed to a (non-) problem of parental controls in iOS.
Then there are greedy politicians that will do anything to get press and establish a certain notoriety for themselves.
The discussion about violent games — stupidly worded “Killer-Spiele” — over here in Germany is quite similar.
Certain political groups an politicians want to prohibit sales of games they deem to violent; because they think those games make children and teenagers violent.
They intentionally ignore the underlying problem(s) because fixing them will take a lot of work and doesn’t generate as much press.
I will try again as my reply to Peter Cohen didn’t seem to make it for some reason.
If Apple want’s to be seen as the compter computer company that makes everything so easy for those without a lot of tech capability then they do need to do more to protect the naive user ( those that you prefer to call stupid and lazy) from the sharks that are out to take advantage of that naivety. It may not be their legal resposibility but it is in their self interest.
The government on the other hand does have such a responsibility as witnessed by legislation in the areas of false advertising, labeling, food and drug legislation etc. I am sure there are plenty of con artists in jail who were only scamming the stupid, so in those cases the law seems to suggest that the stupid do have a right to protection. Who knows even you might be seen by some con artist to be stupid in some area that hey can take advantage of but I suppose that you would think that they should just get away with it and nothing should be done about it even if it cost you your house or your pension fund.
To sit back and say ” I’m all right Jack” from the lofty position of tech geek is very short sighted and selfish in my opinion.
More than giving users the option of locking out in-app purchases? And what exactly is Apple supposed to do when a password gets subverted by another child in the house, as was the case here?
Bloviation about Apple protecting consumers aside, Apple’s done everything it can or should here without making the process too onerous for the average user (or tech geek, for that matter) to deal with.
For some reason the reply button on this site does not seem to be working for me.
Apple knows that this program is there to rip people off therefore as they have shown previosly that they are prepared to keep programs from the app store then I think that this program would be a perfect cantidate.
As I have no idea what bloviation is (assuming that it is not mistyped) then I cannot comment on it but I do note that you have not commented on the government role.
I have since found out that it is $99.00 for a wheelbarrow of smufberries. How could I have ever thought that Capcom was trying to take advantage of the system. Foolish me.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but I think government has bigger and more pressing issues to worry about.
“Then there are greedy politicians that will do anything to get press and establish a certain notoriety for themselves.”
Having watched various politicians in the US rail (unsuccessfully) against violent video games now for years, I know how this works: “Think of the children” is a great slogan, and it’s easy to muster public support around the sentiment. What’s harder to do is craft legislation that works. So every couple of years politicians find a pet project to complain about, but nothing ultimately happens.
Your sympathies may lie with the shyster but mine lie firmly with the mark.
Apple can resolve this easily enough. Simply provide an option to require the iTunes password for in app purchases. Maybe it has this already, I haven’t bought anything in app yet so don’t know really. Anyway, if the child knows their parent’s password, it is there fault.
I agree, so the bottomline here is…parents should make it a habit to know about a certain product before even purchasing or using them. There a lot of harmful things in the world out there, some are in a form technology even, but we should always make sure that our kids cannot just get access to any of it. We should be responsible parents and try our best to inform our kids on every little thing that they can possibly be exposed to, so that they will be forewarned and not learn things from other people instead. If we don’t do this, then they might just get the wrong information about things they’d be curious about.