Lawsuit Against Apple Filed Over iPhone Tracking Scandal

Tweet

This was bound to happen. Last week’s revelation that iOS 4.0 devices are logging everywhere you go in an unencrypted device on your phone isn’t going well for Apple. They’re facing pressure from some US government officials, some foreign governments, and now, they’re facing legal action. Bloomberg News is reporting that Apple has been named as a defendant in a case filed by two people in Apple. The two plaintiffs are alleging privacy invasion and computer fraud.

It remains to be seen if the two plaintiffs will open this up to class action status and let everybody who’s ever owned and iOS devices get in on this and pile on Apple. Apple has been under pressure about this location logging scandal since it was unveiled by two security researchers last week that the iPhone was saving everywhere you went.

US Senator Al Franken (D-MN) and Congressman Ed Markey (D-MA) have demanded answers from Apple, as have some state government officials. Some foreign governments are putting the pressure on Apple too, with South Korea looking the most serious about it. I don’t doubt that we’ll see some sort of US government hearings on this before it’s all over.

It’s been determined that Android does something similar, if you opt-in during the phone’s setup process. Today, an alleged email from Steve Jobs assured an Apple fan that Apple didn’t collect the data anymore. Assuming that’s true, Apple was still logging the data unencrypted on the phone, which seems to be driving the privacy nuts, well, nuts.