The Federal Trade Commission has filed suit against Amazon, Thursday July 10th, over the fact that they have charged customers for unauthorized app purchases made by their children. Amazon is the third company the FTC has contacted in regards to such actions; Apple was sued this past January and has recently informed the FTC that Google is guilty of the same practices.
According to PC World, The FTC filled a lawsuit with the U.S. Western District of Washington court mandating Amazon to refund money to all parents who have had unauthorized purchases made with their accounts. Amazon will also no longer be able to bill for unauthorized charges, should the FTC win the suit.
Amazon first began giving users the luxury of in app purchases in 2011. However, the FTC claims that Amazon did not provide a reliable way to protect their customer accounts, such as creating a special password, from their children adding unknown app purchases to their bill. Amazon argued in a recent letter sent to the FTC that the company has strong parental controls in place and that they user is warned prior to completing the purchase. Amazon also stated that they have always refunded customers in the event that an accident purchase was made, USA Today noted.
Apple settled at $32.5 million and made adjustments to their Apple store so that the account is protected with a password. The FTC claims that if Amazon makes changes to their app store as well, then they will drop the lawsuit.