Doesn't matter what the data is, they thought they pushed the off switch, argues complaint
At the heart of the lawsuit is research from a pair of iOS developers who operate a company known as Mysk. In early November, Mysk
out the results of some research done on a jailbroken iPhone running iOS 14.6 in which they found the offending behavior., which ran its story only a few days before the lawsuit was filed late last week. It was reported at that time that iOS 16 was sending data under the same circumstances and to the same Apple web addresses, but encryption in iOS 16 prevented them from determining whether the data was identical.
The data being collected in this case, some experts argue, might be tied to functions for operating the App Store as a given user, rather than being collected for the purposes of advertising, meaning it would potentially have no commercial value to Apple or be critical to functioning.
However, it does attach a value to the data – saying demographic and browsing data has an intrinsic worth and seeking damages of $5,000 for the plaintiff, and presumably for any class members who join after him. Whether this suit will stand up to such scrutiny remains to be seen: Apple has yet to file a response to the accusations or respond to our questions. ®