By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – A federal judge reduced a lawsuit accusing Apple (NASDAQ of violating the privacy of iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch users by collecting their personal data through proprietary apps such as the App Store, Apple Music and Apple TV .
U.S. District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California, dismissed nearly all claims based on the “Allow apps to request tracking” setting on Apple mobile devices, but allowed some claims to proceed over the “Share Analytics” setting ( device)”.
Mobile device users said Apple violated their user agreements and various privacy and consumer protection laws by claiming that disabling settings would limit the collection, storage and use of their data, only to then ignore their choices and collect, store and use that data.
The lawsuit seeking unspecified damages is one of many accusing technology companies such as Apple, Alphabet's (NASDAQ:) Google and Meta Platforms' (NASDAQ:) facebook of allowing the collection of user data without consent. .
In a 39-page decision Thursday night, Davila said Apple made it clear to users that the “Allow apps to request tracking” setting applied to “other companies' apps and websites.”
He said that made it “implausible” that reasonable people would believe that by turning off the setting they were withdrawing consent for Apple to collect their data through its own apps.
But the judge said users plausibly claimed they withdrew that consent by disabling the “Sharing (Device) Analytics” setting, citing Apple's disclosure that users can “disable Device Analytics sharing entirely.”
The Cupertino, California-based company has said it collects data through that environment to improve its products and services.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. Apple and its lawyers did not immediately respond to similar requests.
The case is In re Apple Data Privacy Litigation, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California, No. 22-07069.
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