Apple 'Vacuums Up' Data, Despite Privacy Protection Claims: Complaint

Despite Apple’s promotion of its privacy policies, its practice of harvesting data from iPhones and other Apple devices “vacuums up a lot of data about consumers without permission,” alleges a Tuesday class action (docket 1:23-cv-411) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan.

Apple records via customers' apps “vast amounts” of user information, without their consent or knowledge, violating advertising laws, the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and New York general business laws, alleged the complaint. The company “disregarded the rights” of plaintiff Juan Herrera, of Nassau County, New York, by “willfully accessing, recording, harvesting and storing user actions, activities, inputs” and other metadata “for future financial gain,” it said.

Apple collects behavioral and demographic data from customers' hardware, allowing it to target ads to users with specific demographic data, “inferred interests, and browsing context, bringing in more revenue,” said the complaint. Using automated means, the defendant can pair data for every user transaction with unique device identifiers and other Apple products, including iCloud and AppleCare, said the plaintiff.

The iPhone maker has amassed an “undreamed-of amount of discrete and uniform” user information, said the complaint, citing Statista data pegging the global big data and business analytics market at $168.8 billion in 2018, estimated to grow to $215.7 billion by 2021.

The complaint cited Apple ads touting the company’s privacy policies, along with features that “supposedly allow the user to turn off” tracking. “While Apple touts privacy, it values profits more,” said the complaint, referencing a Gizmodo article saying Apple “collects extremely detailed information on you with its own apps even when you turn off tracking, an apparent direct contradiction” of how its privacy protection works.

An auction-like system used in social media advertising leads platforms to sell to the highest bidder so “it is in the best interests of the bidders to bid highly” for the ads that are placed strategically, to reach people most likely to buy their products, said the complaint. The bidding system “encourages targeted advertising.” Facebook parent Meta reported $69.6 billion in ad revenue for 2019, and Apple’s ads contribute “billions” to its profits, said the complaint.

Plaintiffs have suffered “ongoing, imminent, and impending data theft, resulting in monetary loss and economic harm,” plus loss of the confidentiality of harvested data, said the complaint. Plaintiffs are seeking an injunction enjoining Apple from collecting and using class members’ user information, an award of actual, consequential, nominal and statutory damages, plus legal costs and fees. Apple didn’t comment Thursday.