Apple is facing a third class action privacy lawsuit after it was found to be collecting analytics data from iPhone users even after they denied their permission.
Apple insists that all developers ask for permission to collect analytics data, but last year security researcher Tommy Mysk discovered that the company wasn’t following its own rules…
He discovered that Apple collected data from your iPhone with or without your consent.
Every time you set up a new iPhone, you’ll be asked if you agree to allow Apple to collect analytics data. If you decline consent, you can of course expect no analytics data to be sent to Apple.
However, Mysk discovered that Apple apps collect and send this data regardless of this setting.Surely he could see no difference at all Whether the user has chosen to grant or deny permission for the data sent.
The sheer amount of data collected was comparable to what companies like Meta are using as a workaround for App Tracking Transparency, a technique known as device fingerprinting that is banned by Apple.
To make matters worse, the data Apple collected could contain sensitive information.
gizmodo Even this data, such as searches for apps related to LGBTQIA+ issues or abortion, can be sensitive, he said.
class action privacy litigation
A class action lawsuit was quickly filed in California, claiming that Apple’s privacy guarantees were “totally illusory.”
This was followed by Pennsylvania accusing Apple of violating “the state wiretap, privacy, and consumer fraud law.”
gizmodo reports that a third lawsuit has been filed in New York State.
Paul Whalen, the attorney who sued Apple in the New York lawsuit, told Gizmodo that he has worked on many high-profile data breach cases over the past two decades. This is not one of those cases, he said.
“Most of these data breaches happened because someone made a mistake that shouldn’t have happened,” says Whalen. “There seems to be no mistake in this case with Apple. Apple deliberately he promised one thing and did the exact opposite. That’s what makes this case feel so different.” That’s why I’m here.”
Apple has so far declined to respond to requests for comment on the issue. When I went to Vegas recently, I didn’t see a rerun of the giant billboard ad that said, “What happens on the iPhone stays on the iPhone.”
Earlier this month, the iPhone maker was fined in France for illegal data collection.
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