Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) takes privacy very seriously. In fact, the company has built marketing campaigns around how secure its iPhones are.
And last fall, Apple made a point of letting the public know that its latest software releases focused on bug fixes, addressing complaints that bugs had become a bigger problem for users of its products in the last several years.
Those two themes just collided in a big way, giving Apple Inc an embarrassing black eye. Specifically, a FaceTime bug that affects iPhones, iPads and Macs can let someone hear and see a person they call using the new Group FaceTime feature, without the person on the other end of the call picking up.
When it comes to privacy flaws, it doesn’t get much worse than this. Surprisingly, the FaceTime bug hasn’t had an impact on Apple stock — yet.
Apple Acknowledges FaceTime Bug, Shuts Down Group Calling
AAPL’s Monday was probably worse than yours. Late in the day, news of the FaceTime bug broke, and it was a doozy of a story.
The issue is directly related to Group FaceTime, a feature Apple Inc recently released for iOS and Mac OS Mojave. Delayed from Apple’s system-software releases last fall, Group FaceTime arrived via an update at the end of October, and allowed up to 32 people to be on a single voice or video call.
The FaceTime bug that was just uncovered shows that someone can initiate a Group FaceTime call and end up not only listening in to the person he or she calls, but also viewing the video feed of the other person from his or her camera, without that person actually accepting the call.
There are a few steps the caller has to take to make this work, but it’s very easy to do. It’s not black-hat stuff, all the tech websites quickly replicated the process once the FaceTime bug had been identified. The bug affects iPhones, iPad and Macs that are running recent versions of Apple’s software.
It was so bad that the governor of New York even issued a public statement urging New Yorkers to shut down their FaceTime app.
As far as privacy breaches, it doesn’t get much worse than this.
Apple Inc acknowledged the issue. At 8:04 PM EST, the company told Engadget that it was aware of the problem and would be releasing a fix later in the week. As the severity of the FaceTime bug became more apparent and chatter about it grew, AAPL eventually disabled Group FaceTime altogether, using its servers.
A Black Eye for Apple Inc
The FaceTime bug is embarrassing for Apple, as it would be for any tech company. But what makes this exponentially worse is Apple’s aggressive stance on privacy. That in itself isn’t a bad thing, of course, but AAPL even trolled competing devices and operating systems about their privacy shortcomings.
At this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2019) for example, Apple Inc put up huge banners touting the iPhone’s superior privacy, taking a direct shot at smartphones running Android, from Alphabet’s (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL) Google.
Apple’s web page on privacy is pretty clear about the company’s stance:
“At Apple, we believe privacy is a fundamental human right. And so much of your personal information — information you have a right to keep private — lives on your Apple devices. Your heart rate after a run. Which news stories you read first. Where you bought your last coffee. What websites you visit. Who you call, email, or message. Every Apple product is designed from the ground up to protect that information. And to empower you to choose what you share and with whom.”
Adding insult to injury, Apple Inc had positioned iOS 12 as being focused on performance, stability and addressing bugs, after some had grumbled for several years that Apple’s quality control had been slipping.
In the context of APPL’s stance on privacy and the quality of its software releases, the FaceTime bug is a big black eye. The Group FaceTime bug will be fixed quickly, but expect repercussions from the bug.
AAPL can probably look forward to Samsung taking shots at this episode when the South Korean giant launches its new Galaxy smartphones in the coming weeks. A class-action lawsuit against Apple Inc. is always a possibility, too, especially if it turns out that any sensitive audio or video has been obtained through the exploitation of the bug. So stay tuned on this one. The fallout for Apple’s privacy credibility and Apple stock may just be starting.
As of this writing, Brad Moon did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
