iPhone News Updated

Apple Inc. Sued for Allowing Apps to Track Us

Apple Inc. Sued for Allowing Apps to Track Us

Apple Inc. is being sued after an iPhone user discovered from a Wall Street Journal investigation that mobile applications are using an anonymous user-tracking device to send personal information from the smart phone to various ad networks.

“Your Apps Are Watching You” was the name of Wall Street’s article on Dec. 17, that looked into how over 101 smart phone apps were breaching the privacy of their users.

The investigation found that 56 of the applications were transmitting the phone’s Unique Device ID (UDID) without the consent of the user.

47 apps were found transmitting the location of the phone, while five transmitted the age, gender, and other personal information to outside companies.

“Among the apps tested, the iPhone apps transmitted more data than the apps on phones using Google Inc.’s Android operating system,” the article said.

Two of the top mobile apps that were sending users’ personal information included TextPlus4, an IPhone text messaging system, and Pandoa, a popular music application and website which sent gender, location, age, and other information to various ad networks.

WSJ quoted Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr as saying, “We have created strong privacy protections for our customers, especially regarding location-based data. Privacy and trust are vitally important.”

According to WSJ’s research, Pumpkin Maker, an IPhone game app, transmitted location information without asking permission.

Furthermore, the Journal found that many of the apps didn’t provide a written privacy policy form on their website or inside the app, citing that neither Apple nor Google require there to be one.

More than that, the Journal’s research showed that users don’t have an option to “opt out” of phone tracking like regular computers. To read about the story and review the research, visit WSJ.com.

The lawsuit was filed on Dec. 23 in a federal district court in San Jose, Cali. by Jonathan Lalo of Los Angeles County. He, along with his attorneys, Scott A. Kamber and Avi Kreitenberg of KamberLaw LLC in New York, claim in the suit that the iPhones and iPads contain a Unique Device Identifier (UDID) which allows ad networks to track what users are downloading, how frequently the app is used and for how long.

The suit states that “the transmission of personal information is a violation of federal computer fraud and privacy laws,” and suggests that “some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views.”

The suit identifies applications such as Pandora and Paper Toss, and names them as defendants alongside Apple. The lawsuit also seeks class-action for Apple customers who have downloaded applications on their iPad and/or iPhone between Dec. 1, 2008 and last week.

[Thanks: http://www.tothecenter.com]

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