“A group of South Korean users of Apple Inc.’s iPhone sued the company in a local court, claiming it invaded their privacy by allowing the smartphone to collect location data without their consent,” Jun Yang reports for Bloomberg.
“About 27,000 people joined a class-action suit against Apple’s South Korean unit and headquarters, seeking 1 million won per person ($930) in damages, according to a notice posted online by Mirae Law, which represents the plaintiffs,” Yang reports. “The suit was filed in Changwon, south of Seoul, where the law firm is located.”
Yang reports, “Apple was fined 3 million won [US$2,855] for collecting such data even when some users turned off location-recognition features on their iPhones, the Korea Communications Commission said Aug. 3.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
South Korea fines Apple $2,855 over location data – August 3, 2011
Apple pays South Korean iPhone user 1 million won over iPhone location data collection – July 14, 2011
I would ban 27,000 iPhone users from using my phone. Go get an adroid freaks
Isn’t this a dead in the water issue? I thought it was already looked at, corrected, and a non-issue.
Ludicrous claim. Obvious money hungry group acting like victims of some imaginary injury.
Let the north loose to send the south a message….we collect info on you too. Sue us, go ahead,…make our day.
*lose
Loose- the opposite of tight.
He meant loose. As in to free the North to attack the South.
Are you talking about the Dakota’s or Carolina’s?
*stupid
You.
I believe that the device collects and uses the general location. Apple doesn’t collect it and use it for anything.
The problem is that Apple paid one person $930 to settle a similar lawsuit. That set a precedent and now all these people want the same deal.
I want to know why 27,000 Koreans are using an iPhone in the first place. Their government should sue THEM for not falling in line behind the nationally subsidized peddlers of Apple knock-offs!?!
I’m pretty sure SKorea is up over 1M iPhone users now.
Boycott everything Samsung and LG; vote with your wallets. I wouldn’t call for boycotting all things Korean yet, not until their government gets involved directly.
So the courts in South Korea want to ream Apple. Anything to do with Samsung practically being a State institution?.
The 27,000 are most probably Samsung employees and their families.
It’s all a mistake.
They thought it was a marriage ceremoony…..
Once the court awarded that attorney a win against Apple the precedent was set: Free money from Apple, sign up here.
Money grubbers ,kick their a**
Apple needs to simply say, “We didn’t collect your data, you did.”
We will pay if you turn in your phone.
For newbies on the subject: Apple itself never collected ANY user data. iOS collected the location data of nearby cell and WIFI nodes. Apple apologised that the collection file was up to 2 MB in size and reduced it in the next iOS revision. Case closed. BFD.
What we have here stinks of delayed mass ignorance and Samsung stoogery. 😯