Teen sues Apple for $1 billion over theft charge
Tuesday, April 30, 2019 IST
HIGHLIGHTS
• Ousmane Bah, 18, said he was arrested at his home in New York in November and charged with stealing from an Apple store
• The arrest warrant included a photo that didn’t resemble Bah, he said in a lawsuit
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NEW DELHI: A New York student sued Apple for $1 billion, claiming the company’s facial-recognition software falsely linked him to a series of thefts from Apple stores.
Ousmane Bah, 18, said he was arrested at his home in New York in November and charged with stealing from an Apple store. The arrest warrant included a photo that didn’t resemble Bah, he said in a lawsuit filed on Monday.
One of the thefts he was charged with, in Boston, took place on the day in June he was attending his senior prom in Manhattan, he said.
Bah said he had previously lost a non-photo learner’s permit, which may have been found or stolen by the real thief and used as identification in Apple stores.
As a result, Bah claimed, his name may have been mistakenly connected to the thief ’s face in Apple’s facialrecognition system, which he said the company uses in its stores to track people suspected of theft.
“He was forced to respond to multiple false allegations which led to severe stress and hardship,” Bah said in the complaint.
Charges against Bah have been dropped in every state except New Jersey, where the case is still pending, reported the New York Post.
Apple and Security Industry Specialists, a security firm that’s also named as a defendant, declined to comment on the suit.
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