Apple hit with class-action suit in Korea

Dylan Bushell-Embling
18 Aug 2011
00:00

Around 27,000 South Korean iPhone users have joined a class-action lawsuit against Apple, alleging violation of privacy.

The plaintiffs are suing for 1 million won ($936) each, from claims Apple collected their location data without their consent, JoongAng Dailysaid.

The damage claims cover breached rights to privacy and psychological distress.

South Korean regulator KCC earlier this month revealed it would slap Apple with a token fine of up to 3 million won for collecting location data on some users even after they had withdrawn their consent. KCC also ordered Apple to ensure the location data stored on a handset was encrypted.

While these sums are a drop in the bucket considering Apple's deep pockets, the lawsuits could leave Apple exposed to more legal reprisals over its data gathering practices.

The company has already been sued in the US multiple times over similar charges.

Apple's location tracking practices have been in the spotlight since April, when research revealed that iPhones (and Android phones) store location data in sometimes unencrypted files.

Apple subsequently released a patch for iOS that limits the size of the cached database file stored on iPhones to a week's worth of data.

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