Company could face Korean class action suit

Apple has made its first-ever legal payout in the controversy over iOS location tracking, according to Reuters. In May a court ordered Apple Korea to pay a local lawyer, Kim Hyung-suk, 1 million won ($946) in compensation for recording location information through his iPhone without consent. The firm Kim belongs to, Mirae Law, has only just confirmed that Apple completed the payment in June.

The firm says it is now preparing a class action lawsuit dealing with the same issue. It has already set up a website, Sueapple, for that purpose. Reuters notes that in recent hours the site has been swamped with traffic.

While the amount of public attention devoted to iOS tracking has largely died down since Apple offered an explanation and more secure releases of iOS 4, the company still faces a myriad of legal challenges beyond South Korea. Two lawsuits are underway in the US, and the country has also seen efforts to enshrine consent for tracking as law. Google's Android platform has received similar levels of scrutiny.

by MacNN Staff