From jokes about the FBI monitoring innocent internet users to taping over laptop webcams, technology-savvy people are no strangers to the world of privacy invasion. Even recently, many have come forward with worries their Alexa products from Amazon are recording their conversations and sending that information elsewhere; as the development of technology continues, so does the rise of paranoia within society – and it almost becomes more probable. However, while initially many viewed this act of “spying” or leak of privacy as purposeful, accidental glitches are prone to happen regardless, and when Apple’s FaceTime app – a quintessential part of most iPhone customers’ usage – revealed such a malfunction, the public demanded change.

In essence, the eavesdropping bug would allow for the user to call their friends and listen in to the other phone’s microphone even without the other phone answering. The glitch was discovered by a 14-year-old on January 19^th, and he was quick to tell his mother, who then went about contacting Apple Support in all ways she could. However, according to CNN writer Nicole Perlroth, “…it wasn’t until Monday, more than a week after Ms. Thompson first notified Apple of the problem, that Apple raced to disable Group FaceTime and said it was working on a fix. The company reacted after a separate developer reported the FaceTime flaw and it was written about on 9to5mac.com, a news site for Apple fans, in an article that went viral.” The slow response only furthered the concerns of the consumers, many of whom had heard about it even before the company did.

Although most do not believe this fault to be purposeful on Apple’s part, they are deeply concerned at the possibilities such a dangerous glitch could cause, creating a perfect window for cyber-hackers or others looking to exploit that kind of information leak. However, an Apple Spokesperson assures the public, “We are committed to improving the process by which we receive and escalate these reports, in order to get them to the right people as fast as possible.” Hopefully in the future, the company will be swifter in their reaction to any issues such as this; for now, they are sure to face the repercussions.