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

[DMG35]

Apple is transparent and honest and I trust them 100%.

You shouldn’t. Profit is always the end game and motivates companies to do things that are not ethical. I'm not saying they did this, but trusting any massive corporation 100% isn't a good idea.

And I say this being a lifelong Apple fanboy.

 

[RSmith2023]

I don’t know this guy anymore than I know the people who work at Apple so I’ll be interested in seeing someone examine his testing and discovery methods. If true, why hasn’t anyone noticed this before? Researchers have been looking at Apple’s data collection methods for years, for exactly this reason and none of them have come up with anything. (It was interesting that they said he turned this up on his iPhone 13 Pro Max running iOS 14.6.)

And now this guys uncovers that Apple is collecting data on a massive scale from almost every iPhone and transmitting it in near real time?

I’ll wait and see how this plays out. (It’s not like people haven’t filed law suits against tech companies only hoping for a settlement.)

 

[SmugMaverick]

BUT BUT BUT Apple!!!!!

The sheep on here give Google crap all the time but as mentioned, they're at least upfront AND they actually give you a great service and product with search, Assistant and you know, being an actual smartphone.

Collecting our data and we still get the shambles Siri, fire whoever is working on that FFS.😄😆

 

[Quantumodi]

This is nowhere the same realm to what Amazon and Google does. We are talking about selling and offering customer data to third parties for advertising vs. standard analytics that 95% of apps worldwide do.

I think you need to educate yourself on Google’s business model. It’s a little more complex than “selling customer data”.
If they sold the data they wouldn’t be the behemoth they are, because they would be giving up their most valuable commodity.

 

[tomnavratil]

thank God. Apple deserves to be prosecuted for these utterly false and misleading claims. funny how this article showed up on my feed the same day I was talking to a friend about how every megacorp needs their scummy practices brought to light, “including my favorite”…

Yet Another Study Shows Apple’s Hyped Privacy Standards Are Often Empty Theater

For the last few years Apple has worked overtime trying to market itself as a more privacy-focused company. 40-foot billboards of the iPhone with the slogan “Privacy. That’s iPhone” have been a key…

www.techdirt.com

Which claims of Apple were utterly false or misleading exactly? Behavioral analytics is well-described in Apple's legal paperwork iOS users agree to.

 

[Wildkraut]

Ah, Gizmodo, Apple's arch nemesis.

Gizmodo didn't sue nor did the research.
With or without Gizmodo, same same.

 

[phenste]

Apple is transparent and honest and I trust them 100%. This kind of opportunism is intolerable.

is this an ironic comment? I genuinely cannot tell

 

[tomnavratil]

[deleted]

 

[boyarka]

So, how's that "most secure" and "private" ecosystem doing?

*malware in Appstore, "not tracking" = tracking*

 

[Eldaerenth Faexidor]

A company as large as Apple should always be under investigation. I’m not a hater. I’m not a lover. It’s just common sense.

 

[Edsel]

"...the team discovered similar iPhone activity on a non-jailbroken phone running iOS 16, the data was encrypted and it was therefore not possible to determine exactly what it contained." (2nd to last paragraph in above story)

So, your usage data is encrypted? Even for Apple?

 

[1557750]

Privacy is an illusion.

Some are just better at magic than others.

 

[phenste]

Which claims of Apple were utterly false or misleading exactly? Behavioral analytics is well-described in Apple's legal paperwork iOS users agree to.

this is the quickest response I’ve ever gotten to a comment, I’m flattered—if you had bothered to click the link I posted:

Similarly, the iPhone Analytics setting makes an explicit promise to users that if they flip a button, they’ll be able to “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether.” But researchers have now shown that’s really not true either:

Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry, two app developers and security researchers at the software company Mysk, took a look at the data collected by a number of Apple iPhone apps—the App Store, Apple Music, Apple TV, Books, and Stocks. They found the analytics control and other privacy settings had no obvious effect on Apple’s data collection—the tracking remained the same whether iPhone Analytics was switched on or off.

Researchers found that even when they flipped off every privacy button on the iPhone, the app store still tracked every behavior in real time, including what apps a user searched for, what ads were seen, and how long ads were looked at. The App store app also tracked user ID numbers, phone model, screen resolution, keyboard languages, and details on your internet connection.

I figured I would bold the most harrowing part.

 

[tudy2525]

Ok, but Apple kinda admits taking a lot of data from the App store app, based on their Privacy Label from their website. For example here are the App Store and Apple Music apps (and I don’t think they are tied to the Analytics toggle that is mentioned in the article):

 

[IIGS User]

good. let's stop Meta's student before it surpasses the Master.

Too late.

Apple isn't tracking me, I just know it.

Hey Tim, how did you get in here?

 

[antiprotest]

Since Apple says that privacy is a fundamental human right, by their own standard this is a human rights violation.

Some thought Apple was the hero. Turns out Apple will be the final boss.

 

[antiprotest]

Privacy Monopoly on tracking. That's iPhone.

Hypocrisy. That's iPhone.

 

[4743913]

Too late.

Apple isn't tracking me, I just know it.

Hey Tim, how did you get in here?

Apple under Tim Cook has become creepy.

 

[jayducharme]

The researchers uncovered these findings using a jailbroken iPhone running iOS 14.6. Notably, while the team discovered similar iPhone activity on a non-jailbroken phone running iOS 16, the data was encrypted and it was therefore not possible to determine exactly what it contained. This limitation has not prevented the findings from instigating a lawsuit, however.

So how intrusive is the tracking if the data is encrypted?

 

[antiprotest]

There will be a flurry of activity on MR for the next several days while everybody weighs in and the lawsuit, if allowed to proceed, will take years or apple will settle with a new google. But the popcorn vendors will make a killing.

This was reported on other sites a whole week ago and I have mentioned it several times, but certain people on here replied and defended Apple. Apparently Apple's privacy practices are judged by a different standard.

 

[Shirasaki]

So, smh we need a class action lawsuit to realise apple is collecting data just as hard as other companies? Ok I guess.
Also, if American legal system has any effectiveness, we would live in a far better world than today. That is to say, this class action lawsuit will more than likely fizzle out and disappear from radar entirely. Just like someone says, slap a few NDA and we know nothing more than that. Amazing protection for sure.

 

[phenste]

having an entire marketing campaign based on the slogan “Privacy. That’s iPhone.” and collecting this much data, regardless of whether it’s disclosed under a buried page on their site that no one is going to read and they know it, and having an incredibly misleading button to “turn off all device analytics sharing”:

(would also link to a clip from the Human CentiPad episode of South Park if I weren’t pretty sure I’d get banned for posting it)

 

[Wildkraut]

It's funny how Apple fellows tries to defend Apple, even if all evidences prove they are wrong. 🤣

That's like being caught inflagranti, but trying to deny by saying "No that's not me having sex, I was just searching my keys there, it's the AirTag fault!". Then some bro shows up and say "Yeah it's the AirTag fault, he is innocent!"

 

[VulchR]

Well, if Apple is collecting data in an underhanded way, such as not applying privacy settings to their own apps, then I believe people should consider the fact that Apple hasn't yet officially withdrawn its CSAM scanning/spying software from iOS.

Apple are just oozing trustworthiness at the moment. [/sarcasm]

 

[sinoka56]

Which claims of Apple were utterly false or misleading exactly? Behavioral analytics is well-described in Apple's legal paperwork iOS users agree to.

and how many read those legal paperworks? Apple should put it under their "Privacy" ads.