Apple is sued for a tracking tool on the iPhone

Tram Ho

This is the first major lawsuit against Apple based on the privacy regulations of the European Union (EU). Apple has always insisted on providing users with superior privacy protection. With iOS 14, the measures are even tighter, but Apple delayed the implementation plan to next year.

The European operations group Noyb’s lawsuit aims at Apple using a tracking code that automatically generates on an iPhone every time it is installed. This code is called Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA). They are hosted on iPhones, allowing Apple and third parties to track users’ online behavior and tastes, helping advertisers locate target customers.

Apple bị kiện vì công cụ theo dõi trên iPhone - Ảnh 1.

For example, when you open the app or browse the web, this “calls” the ad to. IFA will send the web page you’re looking at the ad server on. go to a particular publication and show the ad targeting that user.IFA becomes especially useful, for example when an ad server finds that a particular IFA is searching for different car sites, which means they may want to buy a new car, so users will see more car ads on the iPhone.

Attorney Stefano Rossetti of Noyb said that Apple has placed the code corresponding to the cookie on the phone without the user’s consent. Apparently the conduct violated the EU privacy laws. Rosetti mentions the EU’s Online Privacy Directive, which requires users to agree before installing and using such information.

According to research firm Counterpoint Research, one in four smartphones sold in Europe is from Apple.

Complaints are submitted on behalf of German and Spanish users, and filed with data protection authorities in the two countries. Noyb is led by activist Schrems and has won two lawsuits against Facebook. Unlike Spain, in Germany, each state has its own privacy protection agency.

Rosseti said the lawsuit is not intended to fines heavily Apple but wants to establish the clear principle that, where “tracking must be the exception, not the rule”. According to the attorney, IDFA should not be restricted, it should be permanently removed.

National data protection organizations have the right to directly penalize companies that violate EU law under the Online Privacy Directive.

According to Reuters

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Source : Genk