Apple may be in a bit of hot water following lawsuits filed by two separate groups of iPhone and iPad users. The groups allege that Apple allowed certain software applications to pass personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent. Here’s what you need to know.
Both lawsuits, currently seeking class action, were filed in a California federal court. The plaintiffs (the two groups) are seeking a ban on passing of user information without consent and monetary gain. According to Majed Nachawait, a partner at law firm Fears & Nachawati and also one of the attorneys for the complaints, the judge may consolidate both cases into one.
Apple is not the only company in the lawsuit — Textplus4, Paper Toss, Weather Channel, Dictionary.com, Talking Tom Cat and Pumpkin Maker were also named as co-defendants. In an interview with Reuters when asked about Android, Majed Nachawait said, “we are also looking at Google’s Android platform and a lawsuit against them has not been ruled out”.
Interestingly, these lawsuits came to light following the Wall Street Journal report that said smartphone apps may be sharing personal data “widely and regularly”. To Apple’s credit, back in April they amended their developer agreement to ban apps from sending data to third parties “except for information directly necessary for the functionality of the apps”.
According to the court documents, the lawsuits cite this amendment and allege that Apple has taken “no steps to actually implement its revised developer agreement or enforce it in any meaningful way due to criticism from advertising networks.”
We are very early in the legal process for both cases. Until the judges decide whether the respective cases show merit for class action lawsuits, Apple needn’t worry. They certainly have the legal department necessary to battle the claims.
What do you think about the sharing of personal information with third-party advertisers? Has Apple done enough to protect iPhone and iPad users or should additional steps be taken to protect the users? Let us know.
via Reuters
