Apple Tracks Activity Even When Users Restrict Data Sharing: Complaint
Apple unlawfully records and uses consumers’ personal information and activity on its mobile devices and apps for financial gain even after users indicate through device settings they don’t want their information shared, alleged a class action (docket 2:23-cv-70) Friday in U.S. District Court for Eastern Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
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Apple touts that its mobile devices allow users to control the information they share, including being able to “restrict the processing of” personal data, said the complaint. The company gives users instructions on how to control the data Apple collects, allowing them to turn off a setting that allows apps to “request to track,” and promises to disable sharing of device analytics altogether if a consumer turns off the sharing iPhone analytics feature on a phone, “yet, Apple does not honor users’ requests to restrict data sharing,” alleged the complaint.
Plaintiff Joaquin Serrano, of Philadelphia, turned off the request to track and share iPhone analytics options within a couple of months after buying an iPhone 13 Pro Max and Apple Watch Series 5, but Apple has “nevertheless accessed his data while these features were turned off,” said the complaint. Apple “surreptitiously tracks a wide range of consumer activity,” including how a user found an app, the duration a user looked at an app in the App Store, a user’s searches in the App Store, ads displayed to each user and which apps the user clicked on, alleged the complaint.
Apple also tracks user activity across apps, the complaint said, saying Apple Stocks shares information about a user’s investment activities or preferences. The Stocks app shares with the company stocks the user is following or viewing and collects time stamps on when a user views certain stocks, it said.
The complaint showed photos of Apple billboards touting iPhone privacy. A Las Vegas billboard said, “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone.” But Apple “has not disclosed to users that it was continuing to track their private data, in direct contravention of the users’ requests that Apple not do so, using the very steps Apple instructs users to stop data collection,” alleged the complaint.
Plaintiff’s and class members’ intercepted personal information and consumer data constitute the content of electronic communications within the meaning of Pennsylvania’s Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act, alleged the complaint. Apple violated Pennsylvania’s Unfair Trade Practices and Consumer Protection Law by representing that its mobile devices enable users to choose settings that would stop the company from collecting and tracking their private data, it alleged.
Additional claims are for intrusion upon seclusion, breach of implied contract and unjust enrichment. Plaintiff is seeking for himself and the proposed class compensatory and actual damages over $5 million, punitive damages, civil penalties, restitution and disgorgement, an injunction from “wrongful acts and practices” and fees and costs. The proposed class includes “hundreds of thousands of members, if not more.” Apple didn’t comment Tuesday.