Apple Sued by 27,000 South Koreans
The group of South Koreans threatening to bring a class action suit against Apple for privacy violations in the country has finally done so. This morning, some 27,000 South Koreans sued the company, alleging its iPhones illegally collected and stored their location data for a year. Quarterbacked by attorney Kim Hyung-suk, who won a similar case against Apple last month, the suit seeks one million won (about $936) in damages per class member.
Apple declined comment on the matter. In an April Q&A posted to its Web site, however, the company denied tracking its users. “Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone,” it said. “Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so. … The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested.”