According to Canadian Lawyer Magazine, a lawsuit has been filed against Apple Canada in Quebec and in the USA, which claims privacy breaches for iPod, iPad and iPhone users who have purchased or downloaded a free app from the App Store.
“In Gad Albilia v. Apple Inc. the court authorized a class action alleging a deliberate breach of privacy by Apple. The class includes all “residents in Canada who have purchased or otherwise acquired an iPhone or iPad and who have downloaded free apps from the App Store” since Dec. 2008 to the present, “or any other group to be determined by the Court.”
Albilia, a computer engineer, claims Apple knowingly allowed third parties to design apps that when downloaded would provide personal information without first telling users and obtaining their consent.”
Albilia has claimed in the law suit that the Cupertino-based company has full control over its App Store and apps allow ‘clandestine and intrusive use’ of personal information:
“Petitioner’s claim is based on Apple having full control over the Apps and Apple ecosystem allowing for the making of clandestine and intrusive use of personally identifiable information while representing to its clients that they will protect their privacy. The geolocation issue relates to the ability for certain limited Apps running on a particular version of an iOS to access the iDevice whereabouts even when geolocation services were turned off.”
Commenting on the lawsuit, a partner of Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Christine Carron said that:
“The class description was just anyone who owned an i-device and had downloaded a free app. That would have caught any number of apps that could have actually obtained proper consent first. Normally defining a class so broadly would be a bar to certification or at least the judge should have redefined the class, but instead he said the judge on the merits can adjust accordingly.”
Carron is of the opinion that wide inclusion of all applications by the judge is not common and out of court such verdicts are usually called “unfortunate” decisions. The representative for Apple, McCarthy Tétrault LLP, made an effort to defy the inclusion of all apps in one class during the hearing of the case, but unfortunately for the tech giant Justice Pierre Nollet declined these arguments.
As a result of that now Apple Canada appears to be in some trouble and if things continues to go in the same direction that they are going now then, it is feared that the iOS device maker may have to pay a heavy duty fine.
Source: iPhoneinCanada
Photo: iPhoneinCanada
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