Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

CTOnews.com, January 9 (Xinhua)-- Joaquin Serrano in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, recently led a class action lawsuit against Apple, accusing Apple of violating several state laws on eavesdropping, privacy and consumer fraud.

According to official court documents, Serrano's lawyer said: "this case involves Apple's blatant violation of consumer privacy." Even when consumers make it clear on their Apple mobile devices that they do not want to share their data and information, Apple illegally records and uses consumers' personal information and activities on its consumer mobile devices and applications (Apps). This kind of activity is equivalent to the huge wealth of data collected and used by Apple for its economic benefit.

Consumers are concerned about how to maintain their data privacy and demand more control over their data. Consumers are also increasingly worried about the use of their private information without their knowledge or permission.

CTOnews.com learned that with growing concerns about privacy, Apple has been trying to position itself as a leader, bragging about how its mobile devices allow users to control the information they share.

Apple said in its official privacy policy:

At Apple, we respect your ability to understand, access, correct, transfer, restrict the processing and deletion of your personal data.

Apple also declared on the "user Privacy and data usage" page of App Store:

App Store aims to be a secure and trustworthy place for users to discover applications created by great developers around the world. Applications on App Store have high standards of privacy, security, and content, because nothing is more important than maintaining the trust of users.

Apple even provides users with specific instructions on how to control the data Apple collects. Apple told users that they could turn off the "allow application request tracking" setting if they wanted to.

In addition, Apple has made a direct commitment to setting up its mobile devices. Apple said it would "completely ban [shared] device analytics" if consumers switched or turned off shared iPhone analytics on the iPhone, or made similar settings on other Apple mobile devices, such as the iPad.

But Apple actually doesn't respect users' requirements to restrict data sharing.

A recent test conducted by two independent app developers at software company Mysk showed that even though consumers actively change their "privacy settings" and accept instructions from Apple to protect their privacy, Apple still records, tracks, collects and monetizes consumer analysis data, including browsing history and activity information.

These experts and their tests further show that even if consumers positively turn off "allow application request tracking" and / or "share [device] analytics" on privacy controls, Apple still obtains consumers' application usage, application browsing communications and personal information, including App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books and Stocks, in its proprietary apps.

Gizmodo reported on this issue on November 8, 2022. Since Gizmodo reported, the issue has been reported by a number of news organizations, including The Verge, Engadget and Fox News. As of the date of submission of this document, Apple has not responded to these reports or publicly refuted them.

Apple deceived consumers by collecting data from users who specifically followed Apple's instructions to prevent sharing its data, constituting illegal interception of communications and in particular violating Pennsylvania eavesdropping laws.

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