Technology has taken off in the past couple of years when it comes to basketball as fans are consistently seeing new improvements to their apps and ways to follow the NBA. The Golden State Warriors have had one great calendar years in recent memory, but a lawsuit can change all that around.
The new lawsuit against the Golden State Warriors and their Warriors app claims that the Warriors app can automatically turn on your microphone and hear the conversations you have regardless of whether you're at home watching the season opener or at Game 7 of the Finals. The plaintiff, Latisha Satchell, also says that the app can be used even when it's not open.
With the Microphone activated, the App listens to and records all audio within range—including consumer conversations. If the App “hears” one of Signal360’s beacons it may display an ad to the consumer or simply send that information to Signal360.
One of the most confusing parts of downloading an app is the permissions that you have to agree to. Sometimes it can be to give the app access to your photos and camera while other times it can be to give them access to your microphone or personal information. While this can be dangerous, some apps do a decent job of letting the user know what exactly they're getting into before using it. Most, however, have a really long list of permissions that app users really don't want to get into reading just to get their brief dose of basketball and move on with their day.
According to Dan Goodwin of Arstechnica.com, it's still too early in the case to make any clear-cut statements:
With the complaint just days old, it's too early to know what the central facts of the case will be. Still, it wouldn't be surprising for a key issue to be whether it's accurate to say the app “records” and “listens in to” conversations as alleged. With as many as 1 million people using the app, it seems likely that most or all of the audio is processed locally without ever leaving the user's phone. If that's the case, the behavior may not meet the legal definitions needed to prove it violated the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.
With a huge NBA season having just taken place for the Warriors and a potentially bigger one coming up in a couple months, this is not something the organization will want to deal with. Hopefully, this case gets resolved quickly.
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