Apple refused grieving sons' request to unlock iPad that belonged to cancer victim mother because 'they need dead woman's written consent'

A grieving son has accused Apple of having an 'utter lack of understanding and discretion' after the company refused to unlock his dead mother’s iPad - and asked for written permission from her.
Josh Grant, 26, from London, became the co-executor of his mother Anthea Grant’s will and estate with his brother Patrick when she passed away from breast cancer, aged 59, earlier this year.
He said his mother enjoyed playing games on the iPad after her husband died in 2010 and said she liked its raft of new security measures since updating to iOS7.
However, when the brothers contacted Apple following their mother’s death on January 19, they were told they would need 'written permission' from their mother to access the account.
On his blog, named Mustn’t Grumble, Josh wrote: ‘Unfortunately in her dying days she didn’t think to tell us her Apple ID password. Funnily enough, I think she had bigger things to worry about.
‘Patrick and I were named co-executors of the will and found ourselves responsible for mum’s estate.
'A tiny piece of that estate is her iPad, which my brothers and I agreed could go to Patrick.
‘In order to clear mum’s account from the iPad and set Patrick’s up they have asked for written permission from mum.’
After reiterating to Apple that their mother had passed away, Josh said the tech giant asked to see copies of her death certificate, will and a letter from the family’s solicitor.

However, this was still not enough and the brothers were then told by the US firm to provide a court order to unlock the device, invoking the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
Josh, who said the court order could cost hundreds of pounds, was left disappointed with the way Apple handled the sensitive issue.
He blogged: ‘I have always been a fan of Apple but this incident has changed my opinion of them completely.
‘Their utter lack of understanding and discretion in a time of great personal sadness has been astonishing. For a company that sells itself on the idea we are all part of one big Apple family, they have been very cold.

'For a company that sells itself on the idea we are all part of one big Apple family, they have been very cold.'
Josh Grant
 

‘Understandably, my brother has given up and we now have a redundant iPad. If anyone has any suggestions for an unusable iPad please do send them in. I’ve suggested illuminated placemat and shiny paperweight.’
Apple said confusion surrounded the iPad because Patrick asked the firm to provide his mother's Apple ID password which can’t be released without a court order.
However, the company said the matter had since been resolved after it was confirmed he actually wanted to use the iPad for himself rather than access Apple ID protected files.
The tech giant said it was then able to turn off the Activation Lock security feature which only requires a copy of the death certificate and a legal document confirming the right to transfer the deceased's property.
The new iOS7 security measures are designed to protect users' online iCloud accounts which can be used to store personal information, documents and photographs.
In iCloud's terms and conditions, Apple warns: ‘You agree that your Account is non-transferable and that any rights to your Apple ID or Content within your Account terminate upon your death.
‘Upon receipt of a copy of a death certificate your Account may be terminated and all Content within your Account deleted.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2574697/Apple-refuses-grieving-sons-request-unlock-cancer-victim-mothers-iPad-tells-need-dead-womans-written-consent.html#ixzz2vE1PlVsA
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Rogue cold callers jailed for £300,000 scam selling fake discounted insurance for mobile phones

A team of con artists who netted £300,000 from a cold-calling scam selling 'worthless' mobile phone insurance are facing lengthy jail terms after police installed hidden cameras and microphones in their office.
Workers at the bogus call centre in Swansea tricked around 3,000 mobile phone users across the country in the eleborate scam.
They targetted people who had just bought phones from Phones 4U and Carphone Warehouse as one of the gang had worked for both companies which meant he had 'insider information' about how the system worked. 

They pretended to be from phone giants O2 and Orange - and claimed to offer their customers discounted insurance packages. But a court heard they were not authorised to sell the policies which were worthless.

 

Prosecutor David Elias said: 'Around 3,000 people across Britain were conned in the fraud.

'It contributed to the erosion of confidence in the industry by members of the public.'

The team, based in Swansea, were monitored by police who installed hidden microphones and cameras to take hundreds of hours of footage over two months.

Craig Pitman,  received a suspended sentence for his part in the £300,000 scam while Wayne Ghosh, who was said to have played a leading role was handed a three-and-a-half year sentence

Swansea Crown Court heard how they told customers they were saving money when they paid a one-off sum of £105 to swap their legitimate phone insurance for worthless ones.

Three members of the team admitted conspiracy to defraud, another four admitted selling insurance when unauthorised to do so.

Christopher Surman, of Sketty, Swansea, who was described as the major player, received a four year sentence.

Andrew Patterson, of Swansea, had 'inside knowledge' from working at Phones 4U and Carphone Warehouse. He was given three and a half years in jail.
Wayne Ghosh and Omar Mapara of Bristol, who were said to have played a leading roles in the scam, were sentenced to three and a half years and three years respectively.
Managers Helen Lewis and Craig Odger and Craig Pitman all admitted a charge of selling contracts of insurance which they were not authorised to do and were were handed suspended sentences.
Detective Inspector Dave Runnalls of the South Wales Police Economic Crime Unit said: 'This large-scale investigation into the fraudulent sale of mobile telephone insurance from a Swansea premises identified victims throughout the United Kingdom.
'It has been a long and complex criminal investigation over several years conducted by the South Wales Police Economic Crime Unit and the guilty pleas reflect the overwhelming amount of evidence gathered against the individuals concerned.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2564909/Rogue-cold-callers-jailed-300-000-scam-selling-fake-discounted-insurance-mobile-phones.html#ixzz2uBdY73f8

Down the toilet, dropped - most popular ways Australians break their phones .....thats why you should insure with PHONEINSURE

WE'RE a clumsy bunch us Aussies. Also a bit naughty it seems, too, as revealed in a recent survey showing how we break our phones and our habits of using our phone in bed.
One in ten Australians have used their mobile phone while having sex to either text, go on social media or take a call from their boss, family or friend, with 20% of these people in the 25 to 34 age group, according to research released by Yatango, an Australian mobile phone retailer.
Andy Taylor, Yatango CEO said: "Is romance dying in Australia? In the lead up to Valentine's Day, [we're] calling on people to take an amnesty from using their phones during intimate moments."
Disturbingly perhaps and according to the research, 45% of those people took a call from a family member and 36% from a friend or colleague - proving that in a 24/7 world, no time is off limits.
In the past two years, over 30% of people have lost or broken their mobile phone one or more times, in various ways, including:
•Falling out of a bag or pocket (46%)
•Dropping it down the toilet (13%)
•Losing it while drunk (13%)
•Sat on it (10%)
•Left it in a cab or at the pub (9%)
•Dropping it in a drink (7%)
•Smashing their phone on purpose (2%)

These Insurance Claims For Lost Phones are Hilarious

A builder in his 30s from Stockport reported his phone as lost, but later called to withdraw the phone after a customer got in touch with his firm to say that they’d heard a phone ringing inside the wall of their new extension. He’d left it inside the wall cavity and the customer was kind enough to let him remove the phone and patch the wall up.

A farmer in his 50s found his mobile phone embedded in the edge of a hay bale. Despite being somewhat damaged, the handset still worked.

A 19 year old woman from Birmingham  that lost her phone she’d earlier reported had actually turned up in her fridge, next to the milk on the middle shelf.

A man in his 50s from York, who happened to be a keen gardener, found his mobile phone that he’d originally reported as ‘lost’ beneath the soil in one of the flower beds in his front garden. The phone was undamaged, if a little dirty.

A man in his early 30s found his ‘lost’ mobile phone in the corner of his young son’s hamster cage, beneath the sawdust and explained that his son must have put it there without him noticing. It turned up when he went to clean out the cage.

A man in his 20s found his iPhone under the bonnet of his car, realising that he must have left it there when he was topping up his screen wash. Despite driving around for days afterwards, the phone remained in place under the hood of the car and didn’t fall out onto the road.

A lady in her 30s from Cambridge who had reported her phone as lost later withdrew the claim, after she received a message on her landline from her local library to say that they had discovered the phone sandwiched between two books in the non-fiction section.

A woman in Plymouth found her ‘lost’ mobile phone 1 week after first reporting it, when she went back to her local petrol station to fill up her car. The handset was sat on top of the fuel pump, exactly where she’d left it without realising, tucked behind a promotional leaflet.

A 40 year old man from Liverpool didn’t realise that his lost phone was actually inside his toilet cistern, until he lifted it off to drop a cistern cleaning block inside and seeing it submerged in water. He didn’t know how it had got there and the phone was water damaged.

An undertaker from London reported his phone as lost, but called the next day to withdraw the claim after finding it inside a coffin, next to a body that was due to be buried shortly afterwards.

Mobile phone crime soars

Mobile phone thefts surged last year with more than 700,000 handsets stolen, a Home Office report revealed today.

The study estimated that the overall number of stolen mobiles was more than double the 330,000 figure officially recorded by police.
And the research showed that children under 15 were the most common targets with up to half a million young people aged between 11 and 15 falling victim to phone theft.
The report comes days after a 19-year-old woman was shot in the head by a mugger in Walthamstow, east London, who was trying to steal her mobile phone.
Today's study added that the typical phone robbers were boys aged 14 to 17, and in five out of seven areas studied the most likely offender was black.
In London seven out of 10 suspected mobile phone robbers was black, while in Birmingham 54% were black and 34% Asian. In Stockport, 76% of suspects were white.
The figures will back a tough Government warning to mobile phone companies to beef up security.
There were an estimated 26,300 mobile phone robberies last year, up five-fold on 1998-99 figures, the study showed.
Overall, mobile phone theft has risen 190% since 1995.
Ministers will be infuriated by the industry's refusal to act when their products are fuelling a steep rise in robberies, thus damaging the Government's record on crime.
Today's research suggests that were it not for mobile phones, street robberies could have levelled off in the last two years.
The Home Office has spent a year trying to persuade the industry to install equipment which allows stolen mobiles to be immobilised.
A Home Office spokesman today named BT Cellnet and Vodafone as the two networks which have failed to agree the new measures, which officials believe could instantly slash the number of robberies and thefts involving phones.
They want companies to introduce measures which allow accounts to be cut off when customers pass on the International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number of stolen handsets.
"We are focusing on the IMEI, which is a number that is already programmed into every phone," said a Home Office spokesman.
"Three of the networks, Virgin, One to One and Orange, can already immobilise phones if they are given the number, effectively making it useless.
"BT Cellnet and Vodafone can't do that and are refusing to put the technology in place.
"They are saying it is not worth their while because the next generation of phones are coming along in a couple of years and their customers are not demanding it.
"We think everyone in the industry needs to play their part in preventing their customers becoming victims of crime."
Ministers are still considering whether to make legislation which will force the networks to introduce the anti-theft measures, but the spokesman said new laws would be "a last resort".
Today's report said mobile phone robbery was mainly carried out by male teenagers on other boys their age, and is mainly a black-on-white crime.
Inmates at Feltham young offenders' institution in west London who were interviewed by researchers claimed they regarded choosing women targets as "out of order".
They also said the sell-on value of the new handset was more important than free calls, with each phone reaching between £10 and £60.
The inmates dismissed the idea of "text bombing" stolen phones with endless text messages - as piloted in the Netherlands to deter thieves - explaining that they would simply steal another and count on police not being able to keep up.
Mobile phone thefts are an increasing problem for police in London and are targeted in more than a third of robberies in the capital, where officers have advised people not to make calls in the street.
Deputy Assistant Commissioner Ian Blair last week said mobile phone robberies in particular were causing grave concern.
Latest figures show a 35% increase in general street crime in London and a 53% rise in robberies at gunpoint, he said.
Ten children were robbed of their mobile phones last Thursday after a trip to see The Lord of the Rings at a cinema in Surrey Quays, south-east London.
The boys and girls aged 10 to 13 were set upon by a group of up to 40 older youths, who threatened the youngsters and then searched them before making off with four mobile phones and their pocket money.
Home Office minister John Denham today visited sixth formers at St Olave's school in Southwark, south-east London, to discuss their experiences of phone-related crime.
"Mobile phones can be an important tool in keeping children safe, but they can also expose young people to the risk of robbery," said the minister.
"It is very important that young people use their phones responsibly and avoid making themselves targets for phone thieves.
"All the pointers suggest that mobile phone thefts are driving the robbery figures upwards and making the increase in robbery greater than it would otherwise be."

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-93597/Mobile-phone-crime-soars.html#ixzz2pC07455Q

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App leads police to stolen iPad in Adelaide

ONE woman has found out the hard way not to have someone else's iPad, with its technology leading police right to her doorstep.
The Apple device was stolen from a house in Ferris St, Christies Beach, which was broken into between November 29 and December 1.
Yesterday, using its "Find my iPhone app", the owner tracked the iPad to a house in Signet St, Hallett Cove.
She alerted police, who sent a patrol to the house where officers found a quantity of stolen property, including the iPad, worth $2250.
They arrested a woman, 34, and charged her with serious criminal trespass, theft, receiving stolen property and unlawful possession.
She was bailed to appear in the Adelaide Magistrates Court next year.
Police have asked anyone who has been broken into in the Christies Beach area to call Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 as they are trying to track the owners of the stolen property.