Charges Apple, Pandora, Backflip track users

A second lawsuit over the Unique Device Identifier (UDID) number in Apple's iPhone -- and how certain third-party companies are illegally using it to track users' online activities and location -- has been filed in southern New York State, according to AdWeek. Orange County resident Jarret Ammer has filed a class-action, suit naming Apple, Pandora Media and Backflip Studios (best known for the popular game Paper Toss), charging that the latter two companies illegally obtain and use the UDID code to track users and uniquely identify them in order to serve targeted ads, and that Apple is aware of the problem and will not correct it.

Ammer's complaint cites studies from Bucknell University as well as a Wall Street Journal article, each independently confirming that Paper Toss and Pandora Radio, despite no need to gather location or UDID information, nonetheless collects this information and shares it with third-party advertising networks, including age, gender, location, phone number and device ID. Neither app asks for user permission to obtain this information, nor makes users aware that it collects the information. When location and usage patterns (such as how long the app is used) are matched with the UDID of the device, it becomes personally identifying information.

The lawsuit alleges that Apple was aware that some apps engaged in this practice, and amended their developer guidelines last April to address it -- but failed to enforce the provision due to pressure from advertising networks. The lawsuit does not charge Apple itself with misusing the UDID or tracking users, just that the company failed to protect the data from being misused or collected surreptitiously.

A similar lawsuit was filed in San Francisco in December, 2010 and also charges Pandora, Backflip and two other companies -- Dictionary.com and The Weather Channel -- of collecting personally identifiable information without consent. That suit names both Apple and Google (as makers of Android) with failing to protect consumer privacy. Pandora has previously acknowledged that it is being investigated by a federal grand jury over its privacy practices.

Ammer's lawsuit claims that the rogue apps and Apple's complicity amounted to an unauthorized hijacking that turned the iPhone into "a device capable of spying on [a user's] every online move." The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. [via Adweek]

by MacNN Staff