“Apple Inc’s South Korean unit has been fined 3 million won (US$2,855) by the country’s communications regulator after the iPhone and iPad maker collected location data from users without proper authorization,” Hyunjoo Jin and Ju-min Park report for Reuters. “The fine, though small, marks the first time Apple has been punished by a regulator over the controversial location data collection which has sparked criticism in the United States and elsewhere.”
“Apple has since issued a patch to fix the problem,” Hyunjoo and Ju-min report. “Some 27,800 South Korean iPhone and iPad users are planning to launch a class action suit against Apple over the matter, while two separate U.S. groups have sued Apple, alleging that certain software applications were passing personal user information to third-party advertisers without consent. ‘Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so,’ said Steve Park, a spokesman for Apple Korea.”
“In June, Apple paid a Korean lawyer 1 million won in a court ruling regarding its location data collection, the first payout by the U.S. tech giant over these complaints,” Hyunjoo and Ju-min report. “The lawyer, Kim Hyung-suk, is leading the class action against Apple, seeking 1 million won in compensation for each of the 27,800 iPhone and iPad users who applied to join the suit. ‘I am planning to file the lawsuit by next week,’ Kim told Reuters on Wednesday.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Hey, let’s rip off Apple for as much as we can get over a software issue that the company never exploited, never intended to exploit, and fixed as soon as it was revealed! Sleaze-bucket ambulance chasers and your clients, we hope your ill-gotten gains bring you nothing but much misery. The same goes for the idiot judges/regulators who award damages over something that caused no damage at all. Karma is a bitch; enjoy getting to know her, thieving leeches. May you all be forced to use fake Samsung iPhones and iPads for all eternity.
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