San Jose, CA: Apple Inc, the makers of the iPhone and iPad, is facing a lawsuit seeking class action status over allegations that the company allows applications for those devices to transmit user's personal information to advertising networks without customers' consent.
The complaint, filed on December 23, claims that Apple's iPhones and iPads are encoded with identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track applications downloaded by their users, as well as how frequently the application is used and for how long. Filed on behalf of Jonathan Lalo, the suit states that Apple iPhones and iPads are set with a Unique Device Identifier, or UDID, which can't be blocked by users. Further, 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.
"Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users' location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views," the suit states. The suit identifies applications such as Pandora, Paper Toss, the Weather Channel and Dictionary.com, and those companies are also named as defendants in the suit.
The lawsuit claims the transmission of personal information is a violation of federal computer fraud and privacy laws, and is seeking class-action status for Apple customers who downloaded an application on their iPhone or iPad between Dec. 1, 2008, and December 2010.
