Apple Pays $946 in Korean Lawsuit Over Location Data Collection, New Class Action Suit Coming

MacRumors · Jul 14, 2011, 10:36 AM

Reuters reports that Apple's Korean unit has paid out the equivalent of $946 after losing a lawsuit over the company's collection of iPhone location data. The judgment was issued in May, and Apple is said to have made the payment last month.

Quote:

Apple Inc's Korean unit has paid compensation to a user of its popular iPhone after collecting location data without consent, lawyers and court officials said, the first payout by the U.S. company over these complaints.

In May, Apple Korea was ordered by the court to pay 1 million won ($946) in compensation to Kim Hyung-suk, a lawyer, two officials at Changwon District Court told Reuters on Thursday.

Emboldened by the successful lawsuit, Kim's law firm is now preparing a class action lawsuit over the location issue, and a website set up at sueapple.co.kr to allow interested users to sign on to the lawsuit has been overwhelmed by traffic.

Several lawsuits have already been filed in the United States over the issue, which was cast into the public light by independent researchers back in April. Apple responded to the controversy one week later, clarifying that the observed location data was actually nearby cell tower and access point data being downloaded to users' iPhones to assist with geolocation rather than the devices' actual locations as defined by GPS. Apple did, however, acknowledge several bugs in the way the location data was being handled, and addressed those issues with iOS 4.3.3 in early May.

Article Link: Apple Pays $946 in Korean Lawsuit Over Location Data Collection, New Class Action Suit Coming

iStudentUK · Jul 14, 2011, 10:40 AM

Fair enough, if Apple broke Korean law then they should face the consequences. Simple.

Don't know how you quantify the amounts. 1 million won seems a bit arbitrary, unless it is a fine laid down by statute.

Eriamjh1138@DAN · Jul 14, 2011, 10:44 AM

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ok. They were tracked. But what harm was caused to justify a payout?

Dr McKay · Jul 14, 2011, 10:45 AM

$946! Hahahaaha!

They should have made Steve Jobs sit in the court personally, so after the Judge passed the decision, he could sit up, dig out his wallet and say "I think I've got that much in here".

kdarling · Jul 14, 2011, 10:45 AM

Quote:

...Apple Korea was ordered by the court to pay 1 million won ($946)...

Okay, gentlemen. Here's the plan:

We get the warhead and we hold the world ransom for...

One MILLION Korean Won!

*cue evil laughter*

The Economist · Jul 14, 2011, 10:45 AM

Hmm, I could use the $946. A new pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses and an iPad 2.

nagromme · Jul 14, 2011, 10:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JS82712

Koreans are all sour losers.

I might wonder if it could be lawyers seeking to profit here, not a racial thing? Just thinking out loud...

Eddyisgreat · Jul 14, 2011, 10:46 AM

I thought the purpose of collecting the data was for operating purposes (i.e. it has a legitimate purpose). Was this found not to be the case?

No bother. SJ will confiscate all iPhones from Korea by months end

Popeye206 · Jul 14, 2011, 10:46 AM

Release the dogs!!!!

UGH!

Vol7ron · Jul 14, 2011, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nagromme

I might wonder if it could be lawyers seeking to profit here, not a racial thing? Just thinking out loud...

you do have to wonder how much of that money went straight to the Lawyers...

iBLAKEE · Jul 14, 2011, 10:48 AM

Damn. I bet apple is flat out broke now.

Consultant · Jul 14, 2011, 10:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eriamjh1138@DAN

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5)

Ok. They were tracked. But what harm was caused to justify a payout?

They were NOT tracked. It was a cache on your own device.

mrlhxc · Jul 14, 2011, 10:48 AM

The Data Collection lawsuit has cry babies written all over it. If your afraid apple is secretly watching your every step (which they are not), throw your iPhone away.

Popeye206 · Jul 14, 2011, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrlhxc

The Data Collection lawsuit has cry babies written all over it. If your afraid apple is secretly watching your every step (which they are not), throw your iPhone away.

Ahhh... throw all cell phones away! You're tracked just by owning one.

This is so silly and now the vultures are just going to try and cash in. And I thought us Americans were bad about suing.

AQUADock · Jul 14, 2011, 10:51 AM

When i fist saw the title i thought it was like $946 thousand or something but its just $946 lol

ps45 · Jul 14, 2011, 10:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrlhxc

The Data Collection lawsuit has cry babies written all over it. If your afraid apple is secretly watching your every step (which they are not), throw your iPhone away.

For just short of a thousand bucks a go, there might be a lot of iPhone users out there prepared to play cry baby.

cvaldes · Jul 14, 2011, 10:52 AM

"This site sponsored by Samsung"

iPhysicist · Jul 14, 2011, 10:53 AM

1 Million Won to EVERY iOS user in Korea will add up to a hefty hole in SJ pocket. Personally I find this more ridiculous than the "broken Glass" lawsuit. But I am no lawyer, I am sane.

Popeye206 · Jul 14, 2011, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vol7ron

you do have to wonder how much of that money went straight to the Lawyers...

100%... the guy suing was a lawyer... now he's organizing a class action suit so he can really cash in.

Absolutely insane!

cxny · Jul 14, 2011, 10:54 AM

that's going to wreak havoc on the earnings call next week....

addicted44 · Jul 14, 2011, 10:55 AM

I am not sure I understand. Apple did NOT collect the data on their servers, right? It was only saved in an unencrypted file locally on your own computer?

If Apple has to pay $946 to every iPhone 4 user they will go bankrupt. I would imagine this was a huge screwup by their Korean unit, and Apple HQ will be stepping in aggressively to fix this.

shartypants · Jul 14, 2011, 10:56 AM

Those lawyers are scum, give me a break, there was no real privacy issue, and Apple has addressed the issue anyway.

Popeye206 · Jul 14, 2011, 10:58 AM

They call the iPad... 아이패드 or Child Pad !!!!

And who is being childish here?

LastName · Jul 14, 2011, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Benjy91

$946! Hahahaaha!

They should have made Steve Jobs sit in the court personally, so after the Judge passed the decision, he could sit up, dig out his wallet and say "I think I've got that much in here".

That would be a cruel thing to do - you know Steve only gets $1/year in salary. He'd have to work almost a millennium to pay that off.

Erwin-Br · Jul 14, 2011, 11:04 AM

A bit silly to see Americans complaining about this, given the infamous sue culture they have themselves.

Jul 14, 2011, 10:40 AM	#2
iStudentUK macrumors 65816 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: London	Fair enough, if Apple broke Korean law then they should face the consequences. Simple. Don't know how you quantify the amounts. 1 million won seems a bit arbitrary, unless it is a fine laid down by statute. __________________ UK students may want to read about Apple education discounts and free student warranties here
	8

Jul 14, 2011, 10:44 AM	#3
Eriamjh1138@DAN macrumors regular Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: BFE, MI	Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_3_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/533.17.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.0.2 Mobile/8G4 Safari/6533.18.5) Ok. They were tracked. But what harm was caused to justify a payout? __________________ iBeaker
	-9

Jul 14, 2011, 10:45 AM	#4
Dr McKay macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Kirkland	$946! Hahahaaha! They should have made Steve Jobs sit in the court personally, so after the Judge passed the decision, he could sit up, dig out his wallet and say "I think I've got that much in here". __________________ Difficult takes a few seconds; impossible, a few minutes
	4

Jul 14, 2011, 10:46 AM	#8
Eddyisgreat macrumors 601 Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Seattle, Wa	I thought the purpose of collecting the data was for operating purposes (i.e. it has a legitimate purpose). Was this found not to be the case? No bother. SJ will confiscate all iPhones from Korea by months end __________________ iCloud Logo Courtesy of : JiP
	4

Jul 14, 2011, 10:48 AM	#13
mrlhxc macrumors member Join Date: Aug 2010	uhhhh The Data Collection lawsuit has cry babies written all over it. If your afraid apple is secretly watching your every step (which they are not), throw your iPhone away. __________________ 13" MBP, 4GB 1066MHz, 250GBHD, nVidia 320m; 1st Gen iTouch 8GB;White iPhone 4 Self-Built Desktop 24" Samsung LCD, Quad Core 2 Duo 2.4 Q6600, 6GB 1066MHz, 500GB, AMD 4850
	4

Jul 14, 2011, 10:45 AM	#6
The Economist macrumors regular Join Date: Apr 2011 Location: Mexico	Hmm, I could use the $946. A new pair of Ray-Ban sunglasses and an iPad 2.
	6

Jul 14, 2011, 10:46 AM	#9
Popeye206 macrumors 68020 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: NE PA USA	Release the dogs!!!! UGH!
	2

Jul 14, 2011, 10:48 AM	#11
iBLAKEE macrumors regular Join Date: Jan 2008	Damn. I bet apple is flat out broke now.
	12

Jul 14, 2011, 10:51 AM	#15
AQUADock macrumors 6502a Join Date: Mar 2011	When i fist saw the title i thought it was like $946 thousand or something but its just $946 lol
	6

Jul 14, 2011, 10:52 AM	#17
cvaldes macrumors 68040 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: somewhere else	"This site sponsored by Samsung"
	7

Jul 14, 2011, 10:53 AM	#18
iPhysicist macrumors 6502a Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Dresden	1 Million Won to EVERY iOS user in Korea will add up to a hefty hole in SJ pocket. Personally I find this more ridiculous than the "broken Glass" lawsuit. But I am no lawyer, I am sane.
	2

Jul 14, 2011, 10:54 AM	#20
cxny macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: New York	that's going to wreak havoc on the earnings call next week....
	1

Jul 14, 2011, 10:55 AM	#21
addicted44 macrumors 6502 Join Date: Jun 2005	I am not sure I understand. Apple did NOT collect the data on their servers, right? It was only saved in an unencrypted file locally on your own computer? If Apple has to pay $946 to every iPhone 4 user they will go bankrupt. I would imagine this was a huge screwup by their Korean unit, and Apple HQ will be stepping in aggressively to fix this.
	2

Jul 14, 2011, 10:56 AM	#22
shartypants macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2010	Those lawyers are scum, give me a break, there was no real privacy issue, and Apple has addressed the issue anyway. __________________ MacBook Pro 15", iPad 3, iPhone 5 Favorite productivity app: UltraList Plus
	2

Jul 14, 2011, 10:58 AM	#23
Popeye206 macrumors 68020 Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: NE PA USA	They call the iPad... 아이패드 or Child Pad !!!! And who is being childish here?
	5

Jul 14, 2011, 11:04 AM	#25
Erwin-Br macrumors 6502a Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: The Netherlands	A bit silly to see Americans complaining about this, given the infamous sue culture they have themselves. __________________ Mac Pro - 2x 2.8GHz Quad Core Xeon, 16GB, 8800GT Mac Mini - 1.83GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 1GB iPod Touch - Gen 2, 16 GB
	1

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