Apple faces a limited privacy lawsuit over its apps
A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit accusing Apple of violating the privacy of iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users by collecting their personal data through proprietary apps such as the App Store, Apple Music and Apple TV.
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, dismissed nearly all claims based on the “Apps may request to track” setting on Apple mobile devices, but allowed some claims to proceed through the “Share” setting. [Device] Analytics’ setting.
Mobile device users said Apple violated their user agreements and various privacy and consumer protection laws by ensuring that disabling the settings would limit the collection, storage and use of their data – only to ignore their choices and collect that data, store and use.
The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages is one of several accusing tech companies such as Apple, Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms’ Facebook of allowing the collection of user data without consent.
In a 39-page decision late Thursday, Davila said Apple had made it clear to users that the “Allow apps to request tracking” setting applied to “apps and websites from other companies.”
He said this made it “implausible” for reasonable people to believe that by turning off the setting they were withdrawing permission for Apple to collect their data through its own apps.
But the judge said users plausibly claimed they withdrew their consent by turning off the ‘Share’ option [Device] Analytics” setting, citing Apple’s revelation that users can “disable Device Analytics sharing altogether.”
The Cupertino, California-based company has said it collects data through this setting to improve its products and services.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Apple and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The case concerns Apple Data Privacy Litigation, US District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-07069.
© Thomson Reuters 2024
