iPhone & iPad Application Class Action Lawsuit

Apple has been hit with a class action lawsuit for allowing its mobile iPhone and iPad apps to transmit personal data to advertising networks without users’ consent. App makers Pandora, The Weather Channel, Dictionary.com and Backflip — creator of the “Paper Toss app” — are also named as defendants in the privacy class action lawsuit.

According to the lawsuit, Lalo v. Apple, Apple offers iPhone and iPad applications that intercept personal information and track users’ habits without their authorization, which is then passed on to third-party ad networks. This is all done in direct violation of Apple’s own app privacy standards.

“Apple claims to review each application before offering it to users, purports to have implemented app privacy standards, and claims to have created ‘strong privacy protections’ for its customers. However, Plaintiffs have discovered that some of these apps have been transmitting their personal, identifying information to advertising networks without obtaining their consent,” says the class action lawsuit.

This personal data is available because each iPhone and iPad is encoded with a “Unique Device Identifier” (UDID), which the user is unable to delete or block. The iPhone and iPad apps have access to UDIDs, which can be used to track information about users, “including what apps they download, how frequently they use the apps, 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 view.”

“Plaintiffs did not expect, receive notice of, or consent to Defendants’ tracking of his iPhone app use and did not want Defendants to engage in such activity,” the Apple class action continues. “Plaintiffs did not consent to being personally identified to ad networks or for their personally identifiable information to be shared with and used on behalf of Defendants.”

The Apple application lawsuit is brought on behalf of all Apple iPhone and iPad users who have downloaded and used one of the defendants’ apps from December 1, 2008 to December 23, 2010. It is seeking restitution for alleged violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, the Consumer Legal Remedies Act, as well as unfair competition and unjust enrichment. It is also asking that Apple and the defendants delete all data from and about class members that they collected and/or acquired from third parties.

A copy of the Apple iPhone & iPad Application Privacy Class Action Lawsuit can be read here.