Apple Hit With Class Action Alleging It Tracks Users Despite Privacy Assurances

The California Invasion of Privacy Act has been the subject of a proposed federal class action against Apple.

Apple is accused of "utterly false" assurances that users are in control of what information they share when they use its stock iPhone apps.

The class action claims that disabling the sharing of device analytics and opting out of settings such as "allow apps to request to track" do nothing to stop Apple from collecting data relating to users' browsing and activity. The complaint was from the previous one.

Apple records, tracks, collects and monetizes analytics data—including browsing history and activity information — regardless of what safeguards or "privacy settings" consumers undertake to protect their privacy. Even when consumers follow Apple's own instructions and turn off "Allow Apps to Request to Track" and/or "Share [Device] Analytics" on their privacy controls, Apple nevertheless continues to record consumers' app usage, app browsing communications, and personal information in its proprietary Apple apps, including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, and Stocks.

The complaint cites a recent Gizmodo report about the work of security researchers at Mysk. According to researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry, there is no evidence that Apple's data collection in the above stock apps is affected by the anti- tracking settings.

The App Store app harvests a lot of usage data in real time, including user taps, apps searched for, viewed ads, and how long a user looks at any given app. Along with these details, Apple is also able to gather details of device fingerprinting methods, including ID numbers, device model, screen resolution, installed keyboard languages, and internet connection type

According to the Mysk researchers, the Stocks app sent Apple a user's list of watched stocks, stocks viewed or searched for, and a record of news articles viewed in the app. The transmission of this information was separate from the communication needed to sync user data between devices.

Mysk told Gizmodo that opting out or changing the personalization options didn't affect the amount of data sent. I switched all the possibilities off, including personalized ads, personalized recommendations, and sharing usage data and analytics.

The findings were discovered using a jailbroken iPhone. The team was able to discover similar activity on a non-jailbroken phone, but it was not possible to determine what it contained because the data was locked. The findings can still be used to start a lawsuit.

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, according to the complaint. If we hear back, we'll update this article.