Ticker: Man accused of hiding stolen ‘Wizard of Oz’ ruby slippers plans to plead guilty, attorney says; Apple to pay $95 million to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping
A man accused of long hiding a stolen pair of sequined ruby slippers that Judy Garland wore in “The Wizard of Oz” plans to plead guilty, his attorney confirmed Friday.
The slippers were stolen in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in her hometown of Grand Rapids, Minnesota. Their whereabouts remained a mystery for nearly 13 years until the FBI recovered them in 2018. They fetched a record price for movie memorabilia when they were auctioned off for $32.5 million last month, according to Heritage Auctions, which conducted the sale. The buyer still has not been revealed.
Jerry Hal Saliterman, now 77, of Crystal, Minnesota, was charged last March with theft of a major artwork and witness tampering.
Apple to pay $95M to settle lawsuit accusing Siri of eavesdropping
Apple has agreed to pay $95 million to settle a lawsuit accusing the privacy-minded company of deploying its virtual assistant Siri to eavesdrop on people using its iPhone and other trendy devices.
The proposed settlement filed Tuesday in an Oakland, California, federal court would resolve a 5-year-old lawsuit revolving around allegations that Apple surreptitiously activated Siri to record conversations through iPhones and other devices equipped with the virtual assistant for more than a decade.
The alleged recordings occurred even when people didn’t seek to activate the virtual assistant with the trigger words, “Hey, Siri.”