iOS Users Sue Apple Over Selling Their iTunes Data Without Consent

The slogan of Apple, which says “What happens on your iPhone, stays on your iPhone”, seems not to be right anymore for now. Recently, Apple is being accused of allegedly selling customer data to third-party counterparts without the user's consent.

According to documents filed in the court case in San Francisco, Apple has unlawfully benefited from user data, note that not only purchase history but also personal information related to iTunes. Apple has collected, stored, and sold them to its business partners for commercial purposes, while all of the iPhone or iPad owners were not aware of that. These kinds of data include customers’ full names, their home addresses, favorite music genres, and even specific songs that they have once purchased.

Bloomberg reported that Apple did seriously violate its own privacy-centric policies, which have made it be proud of as well as creating a strong commitment for many iOS users over the years.

Three iTunes users have started the court case to represent hundreds of thousands of other customers in their states. In the quest of gaining profits, the tech giant is said to do such misbehaviors. 

Going further, the lawsuit unveiled that third-party businesses in receipt of this information are allowed to compile and append music preferences with other data, including basic information such as age, gender, marital status or more specific details like household income, educational background and so on. In addition, the leaked data had become an abundant source for app developers to monetize the earnings from their apps, based on user data they have exploited from Apple.

As for the deal between Apple and its business counterparts, a package of data of 1,000 users was sold for roughly Rs 9,500. In the meantime, the Silicon Valley giant hasn't made any comments about the case.