Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., making of the iPhone and iPad, was accused in a lawsuit of allowing applications for those devices to transmit users’ personal information to advertising networks without customers’ consent.
The complaint, which seeks class action, or group, status, was filed on Dec. 23 in federal court in San Jose, California. The suit claims Cupertino, California-based Apple’s iPhones and iPads are encoded with identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track what applications users download, how frequently they’re used and for how long.
“Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views,” according to the suit.
The suit, filed on behalf of Jonathan Lalo of Los Angeles County, identifies applications such as Pandora, Paper Toss, the Weather Channel and Dictionary.com, and names them as defendants along with Apple. Lalo is represented by Scott A. Kamber and Avi Kreitenberg of KamberLaw LLC in New York.
Click HERE to view the Wall Street Journal's What They Know Mobile Apps Interactive Database
Apple iPhones and iPads are set with a Unique Device Identifier, or UDID, which can’t be blocked by users, according to the complaint. Apple claims it reviews all applications on its App Store and doesn’t allow them to transmit user data without customer permission, according to the complaint.
The lawsuit, claiming the transmission of personal information is a violation of federal computer fraud and privacy laws, seeks class-action status for Apple customers who downloaded an application on their iPhone or iPad between Dec. 1, 2008, and last week.
Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, didn’t immediately return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.
The case is Lalo v. Apple, 10-5878, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
--Editors: Fred Strasser, Mary Romano, Contact: [email protected]
COMMENTARY: A Wall Street Journal investigation has found that out of 101 popular smartphone "apps"—games and other software applications for iPhone and Android phones—showed that 56 transmitted the phone's unique device ID to other companies without users' awareness or consent. Forty-seven apps transmitted the phone's location in some way. Five sent age, gender and other personal details to outsiders.
As part of the Wall Street Journal's What They Know investigative series into data privacy, the Journal analyzed the data collected and shared by 101 popular apps on iPhone and Android phones (including the Journal's own iPhone app). The interactive database (see above) shows the behavior of these apps, and describes what each app told users about the information it gathered. You will shit when you see this.
This is scary stuff, so I am not surprised by this class action lawsuit against Apple. Google was sued by the FTC and fined for violating the privacy of its Google Mail and Buzz subscribers. You can bet that Google, together with numerous Android developers, will be sued over Android app privacy violations
It pisses me off that apps are transmitting our private information to advertisers. Damn, I use the Weather Channel, Pandora and Dictionary.com apps, to name a few. God only knows when and where the next major privacy breach will occur. I think we need to impose some humongous fines and even imprison the top executives of these companies. No more out-of-court settlements.
Online privacy rights are granted to individuals through The Privacy Act of 1974 and amendments there to, and are more particularly addressed in the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act of 1984. There are many privacy violations that can be reported. Several different agencies handle the investigation and enforcement of privacy laws regarding the Internet.
The Federal Trade Commission offers help and resources for individuals reporting privacy rights violations. The Federal Trade Commission Act (FTC Act) declares that unfair or deceptive trade practices are illegal. If you suspect that your online privacy has being violated, you should file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission so that it maybe investigated.
Internet privacy rules and regulations are in serious need of revamping and modernization in order to adequately protect consumers against the unauthorized misappropriation of private consumer and behavioral data.
On December 1, 2010, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers” (“the Report”), a preliminary staff report proposing a new conceptual framework for privacy protection. The new FTC framework proposal is NOT a low, but is intended to inform policymakers, including Congress, as they develop solutions,policies, and potential laws governing privacy, and guide and motivate industry as it developsmore robust and effective best practices and self-regulatory guidelines.
With the recent passage of the Net Neutrality bill by Congress, perhaps the new Congress voted into office in November will finally address Internet privacy concerns more thoroughly and legislate into law new rules and regulations to govern internet privacy in keeping with the latest online technologies.
Stay tuned for further developments.
Courtesy of an article dated December 28, 2010 appearing in Bloomberg Businessweek and an article dated December 18, 2010 appearing in The Wall Street Journal titled "Your Apps Are Watching You" and The Wall Street Journal's "What They Know Mobile" interactive database of 101 iPhone and Android mobile phones violating your privacy
Very nice post, really informative. Added to bookmarks.
Posted by: Stromanbieter Wechseln | 10/22/2011 at 04:27 AM