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Apple stumps up $32.5m to reimburse out of pocket parents over kids in-app purchases

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By John Glenday, Reporter

January 16, 2014 | 1 min read

Apple has agreed to cough up $32.5m to reimburse parents left out of pocket as a result of in-app purchases after reaching a settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission.

The refund concession follows years of bickering over hefty bills racked up by children making on-app purchase on their parent’s gadgets without consent. In addition to stumping up the cash Apple will also be obligated to change its billing process to require parental consent before in-app charges can be applied.

It follows complaints that the technology firm failed to inform parents that they were approving in-app purchases for a period of 15 minutes simply by entering their passwords.

FTC chairwoman Edith Ramirez said: "This settlement is a victory for consumers harmed by Apple's unfair billing, and a signal to the business community: whether you're doing business in the mobile arena or the mall down the street, fundamental consumer protections apply.

“You cannot charge consumers for purchases they did not authorize."

The FTC has set a 31 March deadline for Apple to implement the changes.

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