For the most part when signing up for a new service or registering yourself with a company like Apple, you would naturally assume that they will not be taking your information and selling it to third parties. Of course this might differ from company to company depending on their terms and conditions (which many of us probably just gloss over). However it seems that over in Massachusetts, Apple is facing a new lawsuit from plaintiffs Adam Christensen, Jeffrey Scolnick, and William Farrell, all of whom are accusing Apple of forcing them to hand over their zip code when making credit card purchases, and then selling this information to third-party companies for profit.
It would seem that over in Massachusetts and under the state’s Unfair Trade Practices Act, it would be illegal for companies to compel customers for personally identifiable information beyond what is necessary in order to verify a credit card transaction. While Apple’s privacy policy does state that certain personal information is sold to “strategic partners”, we guess the beef here is that this information would not have been made available had Apple not forced them to provide personally identifiable information in the first place. The plaintiffs are looking to turn this into a class-action lawsuit and are seeking damages of $75 per violation that covers damages, litigation and attorney fees, and further relief. They are also petitioning that Apple should stop collecting zip codes in Massachusetts in compliance with state laws.
Filed in . Read more about Legal.