Demandan a Apple, fuente ingles

Demandan a Apple y la acusan de filtrar información privada a los anunciantes

acusada de permitir a algunas aplicaciones recopilar datos personales de los usuarios de iPhone y iPad para venderlos a anunciantes. Junto a la compañía de Cupertino, programas como Pandora, the Weather Channel o Dictionary.com también han sido señalados en la acusación.
La demanda ha sido interpuesta ante el tribunal federal de San Jose, en el estado de California, y en ella no sólo se acusa a Apple sino a un grupo de aplicaciones, algunas de ellas entre las más descargadas, como Pandora, the Weather Channel, Dictionary.com o Paper Toss.
Los anunciantes pueden rastrear qué aplicaciones se descargan los usuarios y con cuánta frecuencia las utilizan, así como por cuánto tiempo. "Algunas aplicaciones también están vendiendo información adicional a redes de anunciantes, incluyendo la localización de los usuarios, la edad, el género, grupo étnico, orientación sexual e ideas políticas", reza la demanda.
El texto presentado ante el tribunal da idea de la gravedad del asunto, en caso de que el robo de datos se confirme. Según la acusación, la información que los anunciantes adquieren es tan exhaustiva que supone una violación flagrante de la privacidad de los usuarios, por no hablar del valor comercial que estos datos tienen para el sector de la publicidad.

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e-mail this story print this story 2diggsdiggadd to Business Exchange By Joel Rosenblatt

Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc., making of the iPhone and iPad, was accused in a lawsuit of allowing applications for those devices to transmit users’ personal information to advertising networks without customers’ consent.

The complaint, which seeks class action, or group, status, was filed on Dec. 23 in federal court in San Jose, California. The suit claims Cupertino, California-based Apple’s iPhones and iPads are encoded with identifying devices that allow advertising networks to track what applications users download, how frequently they’re used and for how long.

“Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views,” according to the suit.

The suit, filed on behalf of Jonathan Lalo of Los Angeles County, identifies applications such as Pandora, Paper Toss, the Weather Channel and Dictionary.com, and names them as defendants along with Apple. Lalo is represented by Scott A. Kamber and Avi Kreitenberg of KamberLaw LLC in New York.

Apple iPhones and iPads are set with a Unique Device Identifier, or UDID, which can’t be blocked by users, according to the complaint. Apple claims it reviews all applications on its App Store and doesn’t allow them to transmit user data without customer permission, according to the complaint.

The lawsuit, claiming the transmission of personal information is a violation of federal computer fraud and privacy laws, seeks class-action status for Apple customers who downloaded an application on their iPhone or iPad between Dec. 1, 2008, and last week.

Amy Bessette, a spokeswoman for Apple, didn’t immediately return a phone call or e-mail seeking comment.

The case is Lalo v. Apple, 10-5878, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).

--Editors: Fred Strasser, Mary Romano

To contact the reporter on this story: Joel Rosenblatt in San Francisco at jrosenblatt@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella