Federal judge weighs privacy claims against Apple

SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) — Apple has a right to track the personal data of people who use its devices and apps. 

That was one argument presented by attorneys for the tech giant on Thursday, as the company returned to federal court in San Jose following its efforts to dismiss a massive privacy class action. The sprawling lawsuit, first filed in November 2022, accuses Apple of violating users' privacy by sending information about those users to third-party companies associated with its App Store.

For more than a decade, Apple and its app developers have battled claims that they violated consumers' privacy rights by letting third-party applications collect and profit from users' personal information on Apple devices without those users' knowledge. This latest class action makes similar arguments, basing it claims on consumer-protection and privacy statues.

In court on Thursday, Apple’s attorneys argued that plaintiffs did not give enough evidence to show how Apple committed “an egregious breach of social norms” and could not say how exactly their privacy was breached.

“By not identifying any of the actual information that was collected from them, they can't state the elements of their claim," Apple attorney Kate Cahoy said.

U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, an Obama appointee overseeing the case, said he was confused why users don't always see information about what data may be collected about them. Cahoy explained that Apple, "recognizing that different people want different levels of information," gives consumers choices about how many disclosure notices they want to see across various iPhone apps.

“Apple is transparent with consumers and does it in a way to not overwhelm them,” Cahoy said. “The point is to make this user-friendly, to make this pop up when it’s relevant to them and not make them feel like they’re overwhelmed with information."

"They’re empowered to elect different options," she added. "That’s consistent with the privacy statutes that we’re dealing with here.”

Because users are told multiple times how Apple uses their data, Cahoy argued the plaintiffs could not establish there was an “unexpected recording” of their data, as is required for their claims.

To read the law otherwise, "you would criminalize a whole host of conduct under this statute," she added. "Stretching the meaning beyond the lines of reason has a whole host of consequences.”

Pushing back on these arguments, attorneys for the class-action plaintiffs sought to show just how far-reaching Apple's data-collection practices were.

Apple collects everything about a user while that user is using apps, they argued, and that information was linked to the user's iCloud. Those practices allowed Apple to harvest almost every private detail about a person, including his or her email and phone number, they said.

Apple’s privacy policy says a user can withdraw consent to having their information collected. Apple says it collects data about how a person uses apps and Apples devices but claims that none of what it holds on file identifies a user personally.

This is misleading, plaintiffs argue, because personal and identifying data is in fact collected and saved. As a result, they argue, Apple users are duped into thinking that if they turned off certain settings, they could turn off most or all data tracking.

Representing the plaintiffs, attorney Brittany Scott with the firm Bursor & Fisher argued that because of the way Apple devices use its App Store, the court should look to last year's Doe v. Meta ruling. In that case, a federal judge allowed medical-privacy claims to proceed against Meta over how the company tracked and collected user data.

When the class-action plaintiffs in this case used the App Store, they "did not have an objectively reasonable expectation that they were not being recorded,” Scott acknowledged. Regardless, “they did not have any reason there would be such substantial recording and collection of their data.”

In court on Thursday, Davila did not indicate when he may rule. Still, this class action is just one of the legal headaches currently facing the tech company. Also on Thursday, the Justice Department accused Apple of monopolizing the smartphone market, including by adopting practices that affected how well iPhones interacted with smartphones made by other companies. That case is ongoing in federal court in New Jersey.

Follow @nhanson_reports

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