AT&T Seeks Quiet Settlement in Data Limiting Case

David McNew/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- It's an unlimited buffet; just don't take more than one plate.

That's what a Simi, Calif., man who sued his iPhone carrier AT&T says is the situation he faces as a heavy user of wireless data services.

Matthew Spaccarelli took the company to small claims court in California in January, alleging that the company had slowed his data capacity while he continued to pay for the unlimited data plan. AT&T slows or "throttles" their data capacity for top data users in some geographic regions.

Following the court judgment on March 2, which awarded him $850, Spaccarelli received a letter from AT&T scolding him for tethering his iPhone to another device and offering a settlement to resolve their dispute, so long as Spaccarelli was willing to keep quiet about it.

Spaccarelli has been very public and vocal about the lawsuit with AT&T and has encouraged others to sue the company as well. He set up a website, Taporc.com, where he posted all of his court documents and advice to help others who might want to pursue their own lawsuits against AT&T. And then he worked with the website PublikDemand, which allows consumers to band together to complain about a company's policies, to set up a page about his lawsuit there. Spaccarelli's how-to guide for suing AT&T is now posted on that website, too.

"AT&T customers using as little as 1.5 gigabytes per month have been subject to throttling—creating painfully slow access to Web browsing and causing video streaming to not work at all," Spaccarelli wrote on PublikDemand. "It's not fair for AT&T to make a promise of 'unlimited' data to customers when they buy the phone while burying terms in their contracts that give the company the right to cut down data speeds and charge additional fees for increased usage."

Spaccarelli said he was not interested in a settlement.

"You settle before court," Spaccarelli said. "They sent a letter that has all this talk about settlement, but I had no interest. I just want to know, what is your next step, are you going to file an appeal, can they give me a head's up?"

Spaccarelli said he expects AT&T to file an appeal, which would allow the case to be heard in front of a judge with attorneys present.

"I'm just a dumb trucker, and there are going to be all these attorneys and I just got a personal injury attorney. But I think I could go up against any of them, because it makes sense to me and it made sense to one judge already," Spaccarelli said.

AT&T, however, told ABC News that Spaccarelli initiated the discussion and the company politely responded.

"Mr. Spaccarelli reached out to us to initiate a discussion, and naturally, we responded to him to hear what was on his mind and discuss his data usage," AT&T spokesman Mark Spiegel wrote in an email to ABC News. "We typically enter into non-disclosure agreements when people want to discuss the settlement of pending disputes."

The company also threatened to end his phone service if Spaccarelli did not agree to the settlement discussions. Spaccarelli admitted to violating an AT&T user agreement when he tethered his iPhone with other devices.

"Mr. Spaccarelli has said he tethers a second device to his smartphone, which is something that our unlimited data plans don't allow. For customers who tether, we have plans that allow them to do just that," Spiegel said.

"It really is as simple as this," Spaccarelli said. "Number one: lacking any controls. And number two: boundless or infinite. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary definition of ‘unlimited.’ It's been around for so long I don't know why they don't know what it means. That really says it all," Spaccarelli said.

Both AT&T and Verizon, two major mobile carriers, implement throttling on heavy-data users. The policy slows down the amount of data users' phones can access at one time. AT&T has said recently that said "unlimited" users who exceeded 3GB per month would be throttled because they are in the top 5 percent of data users in our network, according to PC Mag.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

AT&T iPhone 4S Now Has 4G…Kinda Sorta

Tony Avelar/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Amongst all the new iPad details revealed Wednesday, Apple also released an update to its iOS software for the current iPhone and iPad. And while there’s a laundry list of new features, it brings "4G" to AT&T iPhone 4S owners...sort of.

Those that updated their AT&T iPhone 4S with the newest software may notice that a 4G indicator has now taken the place of the 3G logo in the top left corner.

However, that doesn’t mean iPhone users will be getting faster speeds on their iPhones. Apple and AT&T have simply changed the naming to reflect AT&T’s new name for its HSPA+ network.

“AT&T iPhone 4S customers have been getting 4G speeds since day one,” AT&T’s Director of Corporate Communications Emily J. Edmonds told ABC News.

Apple maintains that this is simply a name change on its part as well.  "AT&T has rolled out a nationwide HSPA+ network and they refer to this high-speed network as 4G. With iOS 5.1, iPhone 4S users will now see this reflected in the status bar,” Apple’s Natalie Harrison told us.

AT&T has faced a lot of criticism from technology experts on its 4G nomenclature. Although the network is technically faster than traditional 3G networks from Verizon or Sprint, it isn’t as fast as LTE, which many consumers have come to associate with the “4G” term. AT&T has been calling its HSPA+ network “4G” for the last year and many smartphones available from the carrier, such as the Galaxy Note, etc. are marketed as 4G.

The new iPad, however, will have true 4G or LTE service from both AT&T and Verizon.

It’s all a tad confusing, but the point is: not all 4G is equal and AT&T’s 4G status on the iPhone 4S certainly doesn’t mean you will see any difference in speed compared with when it said “3G” just yesterday.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Poll: 40% of Smart Phone Owners Have Never Paid with Device

iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) -- Many Americans apparently don’t feel smart or secure enough to use many of their smart phone’s capabilities. A new Harris Poll of 2,056 adults finds 40 percent of owners admitting they have never scanned their mobile device for any reason.

The survey also finds 63 percent of respondents say they are either not comfortable or not at all comfortable with using a mobile scan as an admission ticket to movies, concerts or live theater performances.

Fifty-eight percent of those polled say they are not comfortable or not sure about using a mobile scan as an airline, train or other transportation ticket.

Five percent of Americans say they have scanned their phone for admission to a movie or as an airline ticket while three percent and fewer say they have done so to pay for clothing or electronics, admission to a concert, live theater or performance or to pay for a convenience item such as coffee.  Younger adults are more comfortable than those older with scanning each item listed.  Men are more comfortable with each item than are women.

The United States marks the 150th anniversary of its paper money this month.  With that in mind, the Harris Poll asked Americans if they thought information stored on mobile phones will one day eclipse cash payments for a majority of purchases:

• 3 percent think it will happen within the next year.
• 13 percent think it will happen in one to less than three years.
• 18 percent think it will happen between three and five years.
• 21 percent say it will happen in five to less than ten years.
• 15 percent say it will happen in ten years or more.
• 30 percent say it will never happen.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Children's Apps Need Privacy Policing, Says FTC

Tooga/The Image Bank(WASHINGTON) -- It's been a heck of a week when it comes to app security issues.

Just after Congress took issue with Apple on its address book and app privacy issues, the Federal Trade Commission has issued a report pushing Apple and Google to better police the security in applications for children.

"Companies that operate in the mobile marketplace provide great benefits, but they must step up to the plate and provide easily accessible, basic information, so that parents can make informed decisions about the apps their kids use," FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement.

"Right now, it is almost impossible to figure out which apps collect data and what they do with it. The kids app ecosystem needs to wake up, and we want to work collaboratively with industry to help ensure parents have the information they need," he added.

The 23-page report calls the current privacy disclosures "dis app ointing" (yes, "app" is italicized in the report), and after looking at hundreds of children's apps, including learning and gaming options, the report recommends that the app stores, developers and third parties improve how and what information is provided to parents about the app.

It goes on to suggest concrete ideas of how that can be done:  "App developers should provide this information through simple and short disclosures or icons that are easy to find and understand on the small screen of a mobile device."

The full report can be read here.

Apple already responded to similar security concerns earlier in the week with a statement detailing that it would be taking steps to be more transparent about what personal information is being accessed or stored by applications.

"We're working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release," Apple wrote.

Apple did not have any further comment in response to the FTC report focusing on children's apps.

Google, on the other hand, has promised to review the report. "We are reviewing the FTC's report," Google spokesperson Randall Sarafa told ABC News. "From the beginning, Android has had an industry-leading permission system, which informs consumers what data an app can access and requires user approval before installation. Additionally, we offer parental controls and best practices for developers to follow when designing apps that handle user data."

Still, as the FTC points out numerous times in the report, the biggest issue is the transparency and understanding of those privacy permissions. Android and iPhone/iPad apps do not have an in-your-face alert that allows parents to know exactly what the privacy policy is and if data could be accessed on the device.

When you download a popular children's game like Angry Birds on the iPhone, it simply provides the link to the privacy policy on the company's website.

On an Android device, there is a helpful list of permissions (location, etc.), but the disclosures are fairly buried and do not always include what the app does with the access. Rovio, the developer of the popular game, did not respond for comment.

A company like Duck Duck Moose, which develops apps like Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider, does not collect any information from users.

"We do not ask users to provide any information and we do not collect any information about users, their devices or usage of our mobile applications," Caroline Hu Flexer, the co-founder of the company told ABC News. However, while that policy is listed on its website, it is buried in the applications. Hu Flexer said the company would appreciate more flexiblity in the app store to display privacy policies.

Michael Kaiser, executive director of the National Cyber Security Alliance, is calling for the same thing.

"Anything that developers can do to make privacy controls and permission settings more prominent and easier to navigate is helpful to parents and to users in general," he said.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

An Ethical iPhone: Protesters Rally at Apple Stores

KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- Protesters rallied at the Apple store in Washington, D.C., Thursday to deliver roughly 250,000 signatures in a demonstration calling for an end to unethical manufacturing practices at the tech giant’s factories in China.

The protest was one of six being held in cities around the world inspired by Mark Shields -- a consultant from Washington, D.C. -- who launched a petition on change.org in January. Shields is a self-described Apple user who became mobilized after hearing reports of poor working conditions at factories run by Foxconn, one of Apple’s biggest suppliers.  

According to a New York Times investigation, Foxconn’s Chinese workers are subjected to poor conditions at the company’s factories. Reports claim that there have been multiple attempted suicides at its plants, including recently when 150 workers threatened to jump from a roof following a dispute about pay. Other charges against Foxconn include unfair wages and hazardous working conditions.

Shields’ demonstration included a small group of signatories and representatives from sumofus.org, another organization which has been collecting signatures to encourage Apple to make the iPhone5 the first ethically manufactured Apple product. Change.org’s petition demands that Apple announces “a worker protection strategy for new product releases, which are the instances when injuries and suicides typically spike because of the incredible pressure to meet quotas timed to releases.”

“We care about every worker in our worldwide supply chain,” Apple said in a statement to ABC News. “We insist that our suppliers provide safe working conditions, treat workers with dignity and respect, and use environmentally responsible manufacturing processes wherever Apple products are made. Our suppliers must live up to these requirements if they want to keep doing business with Apple.

“Every year Apple inspects more factories, going deeper into the supply chain and raising the bar for our suppliers. In 2011 we conducted 229 audits at supplier facilities around the world and reported their progress on apple.com. Last month, Apple became the first technology company admitted to the Fair Labor Association, a leading nonprofit organization dedicated to improving conditions for workers around the world. The FLA's auditing team will have direct access to our supply chain and they will report their findings independently on their website,” the statement from Apple said.

Protests were also held at Apple stores in New York, San Francisco, London, Sydney and Bangalore, India on Thursday.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Obama Debuts Cellphone Credit Card Swipe for Donations

JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/​Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- The campaign team that pioneered an iPhone app for volunteer recruitment and get-out-the-vote efforts for President Obama in 2008 is out with a new tool aimed at tapping into more cash in 2012: the Obama Victory Fund mobile phone credit card donations app, with swipe attachment.

The system, powered by the tech start-up Square, is being rolled out by a select group of Obama campaign staff at hundreds of field offices across the country this month, a campaign aide told ABC News.

Organizers equipped with the small, one-inch square attachment that plugs into a smartphone will be able to accept credit card swipes from donors, whose information will be automatically entered into the campaign’s database through the software interface downloaded on the phone.

"The idea is that if you’re at a house party or in daily interactions -- at a grocery store shopping -- and someone sees your Obama for America button and wants to talk to you about the campaign, you can ask for a donation and accept it right then and there," the aide said.

The tool will be made widely available this spring, when supporters will be able to download the free app in the Apple iTunes store and obtain the swipe attachment.

A campaign aide closely involved in development of the technology told ABC News that each “Square” costs about one cent when the campaign buys them in bulk. The mobile interface may eventually connect with the campaign’s grassroots fundraising pages online, which promote competition among small-dollar donors.

Square Inc. CEO Jack Dorsey, who also co-founded Twitter, told Bloomberg TV last summer that the tool has the potential to revolutionize business and politics.

"The tool you have in your pocket today – that mobile phone – you pair with one of our readers, and suddenly you can accept payments everywhere. And it’s a payment device that 90 percent of this country uses, and that’s transformational."

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Apple to Release First Full Quarterly Report Since Steve Jobs's Death

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images(CUPERTINO, Calif.) -- Apple on Tuesday will report its first full quarterly numbers since Steve Jobs passed away last October.

The first quarter report is expected to show another big rise in sales and profits.  Analysts say Apple sold more than 30 million iPhones during the last three months of 2011 -- double the number of the year before.

Tablet sales, however, might have weakened in anticipation of the iPad 3, which is expected to launch this March.

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Today in History: Apple Unveils the iPhone

David Paul Morris/Getty Images(SAN FRANCISCO) -- Five years ago Monday, at the 2007 Macworld conference, Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced, “Today Apple is going to reinvent the phone.”

He unveiled the first iPhone, a touch screen device that combined iPod features with phone service.

Jobs, confident with the revolutionary product said, “I think we’re going to hit a grand slam with this.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

Siri Abortion Debate: ACLU, NARAL on Apple 'Glitch'

Tony Avelar/Bloomberg/Getty Images(NEW YORK) -- Apple's Siri, the voice-activated "virtual assistant" in the new iPhone 4S, had no idea what it was saying. It turned out that while Siri can answer myriad spoken queries, it often stumbles if one asks for help getting an abortion.

Abortion-rights advocates objected, with some starting an online petition to make Apple do something. Soon, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) joined in.

"Although it isn't clear that Apple is intentionally trying to promote an anti-choice agenda, it is distressing that Siri can point you to Viagra but not the Pill, or help you find an escort but not an abortion clinic," said an ACLU blog post.

What's behind the rhetoric? Both groups said Siri—which Apple has promised to improve—is really not the issue.

"Do you know what a 'crisis pregnancy center' is—a CPC?" said Ted Miller, communications director at NARAL Pro-Choice America. "They don't provide abortions. They're run by anti-choice groups, and they try to lure women in to talk them out of getting abortions.

"Our main intention, our goal, is to make sure people are getting accurate information. We want people to know about these organizations that would promote themselves dishonestly."

Jennifer Dalven, who heads the ACLU's Reproductive Freedom Project, said, "The Siri issue is a symptom of a much larger problem. Why is it that we can have ads on TV for Viagra but talking about where a woman can get birth control or an abortion is taboo? This has real consequences. For example, it leads to sex education classes that just preach to kids that they should abstain until they get married but don't tell them about contraception."

Dalven said she did not doubt Apple's explanation that Siri was a work in progress: "We have no reason to believe that this was anything but a glitch."

Groups that have argued against legalized abortion have been quieter. Dave Andrusko of National Right to Life News said some people might wonder if the late Steve Jobs—who was raised by adoptive parents—didn't program the 'glitch' into Siri which hit the stores soon after Jobs' death.

"Unfortunately, the answer[s] are likely elsewhere," he wrote.

The answer, according to engineers who know search technology works, is that Apple just got caught in the middle.

Siri's answers, they said, are limited by the sources it searches for information—services such as Yelp and Wikipedia. One engineer, asking not to be quoted, said it might well be that anti-abortion groups use the term "abortion clinic" on their websites, but gynecologists who are willing to perform abortions in private would be reluctant to advertise it.

Danny Sullivan, who runs the website SearchEngineLand.com, found that Siri didn't know that acetaminophen is the chemical name for Tylenol. "Is Siri also against headaches?" he wrote. "I don't think so, but it [is] easy to pursue one line of questioning in various ways, such as everything about abortions, and come away with a skewed view that Siri is pro-life rather than just buggy in general."

Apple, for its part, is sticking to the comment it gave to ABC News and other organizations on Wednesday: "Our customers want to use Siri to find out all types of information, and while it can find a lot, it doesn't always find what you want. These are not intentional omissions meant to offend anyone, it simply means that as we bring Siri from beta to a final product, we find places where we can do better and we will in the coming weeks."

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio

Apple: Yes, We Have a Battery Problem

Tony Avelar/Bloomberg via Getty Images(CUPERTINO, Calif.) -- Apple concedes there is a battery problem with the new iPhone 4S.

"A small number of customers have reported lower-than-expected battery life on iOS 5 devices," Apple spokeswoman Natalie Harrison said in a statement. "We have found a few bugs that are affecting battery life, and we will release a software update to address those in a few weeks."

Apple didn't say what the bugs were or go into other specifics. The problem may not be exclusive to the new iPhone; instead, it may be in the operating system, iOS 5, which the phone shares with other Apple devices.

People who crowded around to buy the phone since last month's release have been reporting that the battery runs down remarkably quickly, sometimes in mid-conversation.

Technology analyst Rob Enderle said any new product is likely to have bugs.

"The 4S is a new phone under the skin," he said in an email, "and virtually every time you make a major change in a device like this the biggest initial risk is that battery life will crater."

In the meantime, various bloggers suggest turning off Location Services apps you don't need.

Copyright 2011 ABC News Radio