Apple iPhone & iPad Privacy Class Action Lawsuit

 Apple iPhone & iPad Privacy Class Action Lawsuit

By Mike Holter

Apple iPhones and 3G iPads are secretly recording and storing details of your every move, according to a class action lawsuit filed in Tampa, Florida.

The Apple privacy class action lawsuit revolves around a discovery publicized last week that Apple’s mobile devices constantly log, record and store users’ locations going back as far as 10 months ago. According to security experts, the location data is hidden from users but unencrypted, making it easy for Apple or third parties to later access.

“The accessibility of the unencrypted information collected by Apple places users at serious risk of privacy invasions, including stalking,” the class action lawsuit states.

The lawsuit says users of Apple’s iPhones and iPads are unaware that Apple tracks their locations and have never given consent to such tracking. Even if they were aware, however, “users of Apple products have to no way to prevent Apple from collecting this information because even if users disable the iPhone and iPad GPS components, Apple’s tracking system remains fully functional.”

The collection of this information by Apple is “clearly intentional” and is done “covertly, surreptitiously and in violations of the law,” the class action lawsuit claims.

The Apple location tracking class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of all persons in the United States who purchased, owned or carried around an iPhone with the iOS 4 operating system or a 3G iPad between the release of those products for sale by Apple and the present. It is seeking an injunction requiring Apple to disable such tracking in its next-released operating system for iPhones and 3G iPads. It is also seeking an unspecified amount of damages for violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and other privacy laws.

A copy of the Apple Privacy Class Action Lawsuit can be read here. The case is Ajjampur et al. v. Apple, Inc.