[Infowarrior] - Apple's gag order on exploding iPod owner

[Richard Forno]

Apple tried to silence owner of exploding iPod with gagging order
http://technology.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/tech_and_web/personal_tech/article6736587.ece

Apple attempted to silence a father and daughter with a gagging order  
after the child’s iPod music player exploded and the family sought a  
refund from the company.

The Times has learnt that the company would offer the family a full  
refund only if they were willing to sign a settlement form. The  
proposed agreement left them open to legal action if they ever  
disclosed the terms of the settlement.

The case echoes previous circumstances in which Apple attempted to  
hush up incidents when its devices overheated.

Ken Stanborough, 47, from Liverpool, dropped his 11-year-old daughter  
Ellie’s iPod Touch last month. “It made a hissing noise,” he said. “I  
could feel it getting hotter in my hand, and I thought I could see  
vapour”. Mr Stanborough said he threw the device out of his back door,  
where “within 30 seconds there was a pop, a big puff of smoke and it  
went 10ft in the air”.

Mr Stanborough contacted Apple and Argos, where he had bought the  
device for £162. After being passed around several departments, he  
spoke to an Apple executive on the telephone. As a result of the  
conversation, Apple sent a letter to Mr Stanborough denying liability  
but offering a refund.

The letter also stated that, in accepting the money, Mr Stanborough  
was to “agree that you will keep the terms and existence of this  
settlement agreement completely confidential”, and that any breach of  
confidentiality “may result in Apple seeking injunctive relief,  
damages and legal costs against the defaulting persons or parties”.

“I thought it was a very disturbing letter,” said Mr Stanborough, who  
is self-employed and works in electronic security. He refused to sign  
it.

“They’re putting a life sentence on myself, my daughter and Ellie’s  
mum, not to say anything to anyone. If we inadvertently did say  
anything, no matter what, they would take litigation against us. I  
thought that was absolutely appalling.

“We didn’t ask for compensation, we just asked for our money back,” he  
added.

Last week it emerged that Apple had tried to keep a number of cases  
where its iPod digital music players had started to smoke, burst into  
flames and even burned their owners, out of the public eye.

An American reporter obtained 800 pages of documentation on the cases  
from the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) following a Freedom  
of Information Act request in that country. However, she was unable to  
get hold of the documents for months after “Apple’s lawyers filed  
exemption after exemption”.

In those cases, CPSC investigators suggested that the iPods’ lithium  
ion batteries could be the source of the problem.

In 2006 Apple and Dell recalled millions of lithium ion batteries  
because of overheating problems in laptop computers causing fires —  
some of the biggest consumer electronics recalls in history. As of  
September last year, 173,000,000 iPods have been sold worldwide.

A number of bloggers have reported cases where iPods have exploded —  
usually involving older versions of the digital music players. Last  
year the Japanese Government warned that iPod Nanos presented a  
potential fire risk, saying there had been 14 cases in the country  
where the players had caught alight, with two people suffering minor  
burns.

In March, a mother in Ohio began court proceedings against Apple,  
after her son’s iPod Touch allegedly exploded in his pocket, burning  
his leg.

An Apple spokesman said that, as the company had not looked at the  
Stanboroughs’ damaged iPod, it could not comment. Argos also refused  
to comment.

The Trading Standards Institute said that it could not comment on  
whether such letters were standard across the industry, but that it  
could understand that Apple would want to protect its reputation by  
trying to reach a confidential settlement.