Lawsuit over app privacy targets Apple and developers
Apple and several mobile developers are facing two separate lawsuits over the collection and unauthorized sharing of private user data with third-party advertising networks, according to iLounge. The first lawsuit, Freeman vs. Apple, was filed in a northern California federal court and targets applications such as Pandora, Dictionary.com, The Weather Channel, Toss It, Text4Plus, Talking Tom Cat and Pimple Popper Lite.
The second lawsuit, Lalo vs. Apple, was filed in federal court in San Jose, California and seeks class action stats for anyone who has downloaded an offending application between December 2008 and last week. Similar to the first lawsuit, the Lalo vs. Apple suit targets Pandora, Paper Toss, The Weather Channel and Dictionary.com. Apple is included in both suits as the App Store approval process makes the company an "aider and abetter" to the deceptive practices of these applications.
The lawsuits stem from a recent Wall Street Journal investigation that revealed several iOS and Android applications were transmitting age, gender, location and device identifier information to third-party advertising companies.
This information was mined by the recipients and used to serve up relevant in-app advertisements. Unfortunately, this exchange of information was done without the user's knowledge or consent. While most of the collected information is not personally identifying, the hidden nature of the exchange caused a stir among privacy advocates. It was only a matter of time before this moral outrage turned into a class-action lawsuit.
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Apple and several mobile developers are facing two separate lawsuits over the collection and unauthorized sharing of private user data with...
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The adage is true, if some offers you a service free of charge, your not the customer, your the product.
December 28 2010 at 9:37 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis is beyond stupid. Sure, this is about privacy, although the apps are not created by Apple. But what to say that if its not possible for other cases as well? Like malware? Well, Google got that one, making an OS that makes it *possible* to write malware...
Heck, they should start to sue Microsoft as well, for making an OS that makes it *possible* to have virus, other malwares, spywares and the lot, along with the security and privacy issues as well. Yes, Microsoft does not have App Store yet, but if this is not about the App Store, but about the OS, then Microsoft applies in this case as well.
Moral outrage... wtf
I'd be curious if there will be the same type of suits headed Google's way, since there are Android apps that do the same thing.
As far as not asking for consent. A lot of these apps just use location information. If I recall correctly, apps that access Location Services on the iPhone have to ask you first for access. If you allow access to Location Services, isn't that some form of consent?
There's nothing wrong with this suit. I hate these sneaky apps that offer something for free and convenience when it really isn't. As long as they aren't cold calling or spamming me, it doesn't really bother me that much though.
December 28 2010 at 2:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyOr you can say that's someone is waiting for every new discovery to sue a popular company like Apple?
I'd be interested to see what "damage" the class victims have suffered. The data collection is sneaky, but how is it different from Wal-mart tracking all your purchases?
Not asked for permission - check.
Non-identifying - check.
Share with a third party (supplier) - check.
The difference between the app store and Walmart is that at Walmart you have the option to pay in cash to protect your privacy, if that's important to you. On the app store you don't have that ability.
December 28 2010 at 4:03 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyAs a consumer I prefer ads that actually apply to me, as a privacy loving American I think this kind of stuff is wrong without informing me first, and as a money grubbing human being I'm glad I downloaded several of those apps in case the civil suit goes through and I get a fat check. (note: I've been part of several class action lawsuits, usually I get about $20, once I got $0.85)
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