from the dedicated-to-privacy* dept
Last week yet another study indicated that Apple’s heavily hyped new dedication to privacy was somewhat hollow, with the company’s apps often extensively tracking user behavior despite claims that doesn’t happen. It was the latest in a series of studies showcasing how Apple’s pivot to a privacy-dedicated company is often a bit performative once you dig a centimeter or two beneath the surface.
Not too surprisingly, Apple has now been sued (pdf) under claims that the company is violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act:
“Through its pervasive and unlawful data tracking and collection business, Apple knows even the most intimate and potentially embarrassing aspects of the user’s app usage—regardless of whether the user accepts Apple’s illusory offer to keep such activities private,” the lawsuit said.
The most recent revelations came courtesy of two researchers at the software company Mysk, who discovered the Apple App Store sends Apple detailed information about user behavior and hardware despite a privacy setting, iPhone Analytics, which specifically claims to “disable the sharing of Device Analytics altogether” when flipped.
This isn’t the first time Apple’s new privacy features have been found to be a bit lacking. Several studies have also indicated that numerous app makers have been able to simply tap dancing around Apple’s heavily hyped do not track restrictions for some time, often without any penalty by Apple months after being contacted by reporters.
That’s a notably different story than the one Apple has gotten many press outlets to tell. Apple desperately wants to differentiate its brand by a dedication to privacy (as you might have noticed from the endless billboards that simply say: “Privacy. That’s iPhone.”). And while the company may certainly be better on privacy than many other large tech giants, that’s simply not saying much.
Filed Under: apps, data brokers, do not track, iphone, mobile, privacy, surveillance, wireless
Companies: apple
Source by www.techdirt.com
