A class action complaint has been filed in California against Apple after a report last week claimed that the company collects iPhone user data through its apps, regardless of whether the iPhone Analytics privacy option is turned on.
Apple is charged with violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act in the case.
In the complaint, Elliot Libman claims Apple had falsely represented to customers that they had complete control over the data they shared while using Apple’s mobile apps.
“Privacy is one of the main issues that Apple uses to set its products apart from competitors. But Apple’s privacy guarantees are completely illusory,” the lawsuit says.
Gizmodo last week reported the findings of a new research that paints a very different image regarding Apple’s claims that it is a better privacy option for smartphone users.
Privacy controls have no visible impact on data collection
Two iOS developers from the Mysk software company, Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry, conducted the research.
The researchers said they used a jailbroken iPhone running iOS 14.6 to decrypt and examine network traffic between the device and its manufacturer.
They examined several iPhone apps, including the App Store, Apple TV, Apple Music, Stocks and Books and found that analytics control and other privacy settings had no visible impact on Apple’s ability to collect data.
There was no change in the tracking, with or without iPhone Analytics turned on.
The researchers verified their work using a standard iPhone running iOS 16, which is the newest operating system.
“The level of detail is shocking for a company like Apple,” Mysk told Gizmodo.
The App Store seemed to track data on almost everything users do in real time, including what they clicked, which apps they searched for, what ads they saw, how long they spent viewing a certain app, and how they found it.
The App Store also sends details about the users’ devices, including their ID numbers, screen resolutions, internet connection types, keyboard languages, and—notably—the kind of information that is often used for device fingerprinting.
Other apps that supplied data about user activity included Apple Music, Apple TV, the iTunes Store, Books and Stocks.
The Stocks app shared data including a list of the user’s watched stocks, any articles they read in-app, and the names of any stocks they searched for. Additionally, the app shared timestamps for which a user accessed stock information.
This information may be sensitive, particularly given how easily details about a person’s life can be discovered by just looking up applications on subjects like religion, LGBTQ issues, addiction and health.
Pervasive and illegal
“Through its pervasive and unlawful data tracking and collection business, Apple knows even the most intimate and potentially embarrassing aspects of the user’s app usage—regardless of whether the user accepts Apple’s illusory offer to keep such activities private,” the lawsuit says.
The complaint does not place a significant amount of emphasis on the fact that Apple is gathering this data. Rather, it focuses on Apple settings, such as “Allow Apps to Request to Track” and “Share Analytics,” that give users the impression that they may turn off such tracking.
The new complaint has been designated as a class action, allowing any iPhone user with a comparable claim against the defendant to join the action.
The class members will share in any settlement or financial judgment issued by the court against Apple after the attorneys have received their large share of the action.
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