Image: Via Barbie Digital Makeover.While little McKenzie and Elias will be sitting in the time-out chair for the foreseeable future, their folks have been given a reprieve from Apple. Following thousands of consumer complaints to the Federal Trade Commission that kids were downloading apps and games on the family's Apple devices without Mom and Dad's permission and racking up huge bills in the process, the tech company will have to refund families a whopping $32.5 million. And, no, Junior, that doesn't mean you're getting your allowance back.
Part of the settlement will also require Apple to refine its billing practices by March 31, making it clear when a charge is going to be issued. Currently, a user has 15 minutes from the time the account password is entered to make purchases, even if said user is still mastering potty training.
This is actually the second time Apple's had to make amends on account of kiddos making unauthorized charges. Last year the company offered store credit to parents as part of a class-action lawsuit with some 37,000 claims. "It doesn't feel right for the FTC to sue over a case that had already been settled," Apple CEO Tim Cook says of the new settlement. "To us, it smacked of double jeopardy. [It] does not require us to do anything we weren't already going to do, so we decided to accept it rather than take on a long and distracting legal fight."
Hmm. Now we're kinda wishing we had a fake kid to blame on all those dating apps we downloaded last year. (MSN Money)