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Apple sued for collecting and selling customers’ personal info

Published Jan 20th, 2014 3:56PM EST
Massachusetts Apple lawsuit
Image: Wikipedia

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Apple is facing yet another lawsuit, this time from three residents in Massachusetts who claim Apple collected their zip codes and profited from selling them to third parties. The plaintiffs — Adam Christensen, Jeffrey Scolnick, and William Farrell — claim they had to provide their zip codes when making credit card purchases at an Apple retail store, which would violate the Massachusetts Unfair Trade Practices Act. This law states that retailers cannot force customers to provide more information than is necessary for credit card companies to verify the purchase.

The lawsuit goes on to claim that Apple went on to sell the zip codes to third parties, thus profiting from the sale of customers’ personal info. The plaintiffs also say they “received unwanted marketing materials from Apple” as a result of providing their zip codes.

For this damage, they are seeking damages of up to $75 per violation, interest on that amount, and repayment of legal fees. They also want an injunction placed on Apple that would prevent the company from collecting customers’s zip codes in Massachusetts.

Apple has yet to respond publicly to the suit.