Congress is ‘deeply troubled’ by Apple’s FaceTime bug, and it wants answers

Receiving a stern letter from Congress is never going to be a pleasant experience, but for Tim Cook it might just turn into a nightmare. 

The Apple CEO is being called to account for a serious bug in group FaceTime which turned the video-chat feature into a stalker’s dream — allowing practically anyone with an iPhone the ability to see and hear a person on the other end of a ringing call without them ever have picked up. A Feb. 5 letter, addressed to Cook and signed by two members of congress, lays out a series of detailed privacy questions for the company and very much expects them to be answered. 

“We are deeply troubled by the recent press reports about how long it took for Apple to address a significant privacy violation identified by Grant Thompson, a 14-year-old in its Group FaceTime feature,” write Congressman Frank Pallone and Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky. “As such, we are writing to better understand when Apple first learned of this security flaw, the extent to which the flaw has compromised consumers’ privacy, and whether there are other undisclosed bugs that currently exist and have not been addressed.” 

In other words, what did Cook know, and when did he know it? That’s right, the CEO is in the hot seat. 

Notably, in addition to demanding insight into Apple’s vulnerability detection and mitigation process for this specific bug, the lawmakers are also grilling Apple about any other potential privacy-violating bugs that may be hiding in plain sight. 

“Are there any other vulnerabilities in Apple devices and applications that currently or potentially could result in unauthorized access to microphones and/or cameras,” asks the letter. “If so, how is Apple addressing each such vulnerability?”  

Interestingly, this take-home test of an investigative letter appears to be merely the first step in what could be a longer dive into the security of Apple devices. The lawmakers expect a written response to their questions by Feb. 19, and one imagines that broad questions like the one above are in some sense an attempt to open the company up to additional inspection.

Which, seeing as how Apple appears to have been slow to react to the group FaceTime bug, may not be such a bad thing for privacy-minded consumers.