Apple Sued Over Applications Giving Information to Advertisers

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-12-28/apple-sued-over-applications-giving-information-to-advertisers.html

Apple Sued Over Applications Giving Information to Advertisers
December 28, 2010, 12:28 PM EST

Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., making of the iPhone and iPad, was
accused in a lawsuit of allowing applications for those devices to
transmit users’ personal information to advertising networks without
customers’ consent.

The complaint, which seeks class action, or group, status, was filed
on Dec. 23 in federal court in San Jose, California. The suit claims
Cupertino, California-based Apple’s iPhones and iPads are encoded with
identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track what
applications users download, how frequently they’re used 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 views,” according to the suit.

The suit, filed on behalf of Jonathan Lalo of Los Angeles County,
identifies applications such as Pandora, Paper Toss, the Weather
Channel and Dictionary.com, and names them as defendants along with
Apple. Lalo is represented by Scott A. Kamber and Avi Kreitenberg of
KamberLaw LLC in New York.

Apple iPhones and iPads are set with a Unique Device Identifier, or
UDID, which can’t be blocked by users, according to the complaint.
Apple claims it reviews all applications on its App Store and doesn’t
allow them to transmit user data without customer permission,
according to the complaint.

The lawsuit, claiming the transmission of personal information is a
violation of federal computer fraud and privacy laws, seeks
class-action status for Apple customers who downloaded an application
on their iPhone or iPad between Dec. 1, 2008, and last week.

Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, didn’t immediately return a
phone call or e-mail seeking comment.

The case is Lalo v. Apple, 10-5878, U.S. District Court, Northern
District of California (San Jose).

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