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Larry Dignan, Andrew Nusca and Rachel King
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South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple

By | August 17, 2011, 10:23am PDT

Summary: The South Korean government has already slapped Apple with a fine, but now the country’s consumers want payback as well.

Apple is facing yet another legal entanglement overseas, but this one is more of a sideshow compared to the mess going on with Samsung all over the place.

Earlier this month, the government of South Korea imposed a fine of three 3 million won ($2,855) on Apple’s division in the country after the controversy that became known as Locationgate, in which any device running iOS 4.0 or higher was tracking the user’s every move and location.

Although $2,855 is pocket change for Apple — literally as the Cupertino, Calif. based company has more cash and marketable securities than the U.S. government at $76.156 billion — this kerfuffle is about to get a bit more expensive than Apple might like.

Approximately 27,000 South Koreans are banding together to file a class action lawsuit against Apple that would total up to $26 million, the Associated Press reports. That breaks down to roughly 1 million won ($932) per person, which could be considered a little more than a refund on an unsubsidized iPhone.

So far, Apple hasn’t commented publicly on the issue after this latest turn of events.

Apple is already ensnared in a legal battle with Samsung over patent infringement disputes regarding the design of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 as Apple thinks it looks too close to the look of the iPad. Lawsuits in that case are ongoing in the European Union, Australia and the United States, among elsewhere. Apple is also fighting HTC over other patents in the United States and the United Kingdom.

And let’s not forget about Kodak, which is also in a lawsuit dealing with Apple as well as RIM over, what else, patents.

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Apple Inc., Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for ZDNet based in San Francisco.

Disclosure

Rachel King

Rachel King has no business relationships, affiliations, investments, or other potential conflicts of interest relating to the content posted in this blog.

Biography

Rachel King

Rachel King is a staff writer for CBS Interactive in San Francisco. Before serving as a contributing editor at ZDNet in New York City for two years, she previously worked for The Business Insider, FastCompany.com, CNN's San Francisco bureau and the U.S. Department of State. Rachel has also written for MainStreet.com, Irish America Magazine and the New York Daily News, among others. Rachel has a B.A. in Mass Communications and History from the University of California, Berkeley and a M.S. in Journalism from Columbia University, where she served as art director for the student magazine, Plated.

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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
8Limes 15th Sep
Apple does NOT deny it and even apologized for utilizing data without their users consent! Why, when they don't do it? Please check up on reality once a while before you start trashing other people without reason. Its on you to prove that Apple apologized wrongly to us and they did none of that. What they use the data for is irrelevant, collecting it is already to much!
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
Peter Perry 17th Aug
If they settle that then they will face these types of lawsuits everywhere!
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
Al_nyc 17th Aug
@Peter Perry as they should. Tracking users without their consent is a big no no. They should have known better. They just didn't care. They probably checked with their lawyers and figured they would not get sued too much.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
781lc 17th Aug
@Al_nyc Big no-no??? Where do you see that in ANY laws, ANYwhere?

I don't agree with it either, but.. illegal ???
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Except that they weren't tracking users, they were
baggins_z 17th Aug
caching cell tower coordinates to speed up certain phone features. But, hey, why ruin a good witch hunt.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
JoltSystems Updated - 17th Aug
@Al_nyc - Listen, it has already been proven without a doubt that Apple takes pictures of what the camera picks up and fires that back to Apple servers, how soon we forget...this is real news...not conspiracy garbage. One cannot tell me that they are not also tracking customers...I mean, once burnt do we again touch the hot burner thinking "it wont burn me twice"? And as far as legality goes, who cares? If I find out ANYONE is spying on me without my consent then steps will be taken to block that hole. If police want to see the contents of my computer then come knock on my door, don't spy. Since we know what Apple is up to (and we do know) what do we do next? Take our iphone and upgrade to an IPAD? Not me...no thank you!!!
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@ JoltSystems
WTF are you talking about?!? No such thing has happened, let alone actually occurred. You are full of it.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
MadDonkey 18th Aug
@781lc: It's illegal to collect personal data without peoples consent.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
MrElectrifyer 18th Aug
@deusexmachina? I think he was calling the "Find My iPhone" feature a way of tracking customers silly Not sure if the "Find My iPhone" feature includes taking pictures remotely but it is included in my $20 per year Cylay plan on my sj free iPhone happy
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
haddles2000 17th Aug
Could be the south Koreans are a bit more touchy about being secretly tracked than most given the region they live in plus throw in a bit of patriotism due to a couple of their big mobile companies being relentlessly pursued by apple.
I haven't even done the update so I can hardly jump on this bandwagon.
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Not just the Koreans
spdragoo@... 17th Aug
I've had my current cell phone for over 4 years now, but finally broke down & gave it to my parents this year. I still don't like giving it out, & we never give out our home phone when the store clerks ask for it. You can bet that, the first day I own a smartphone, I'm disabling any GPS tracking function it has on it before the day is done.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
MI5 17th Aug
@spdragoo "You can bet that, the first day I own a smartphone, I'm disabling any GPS tracking function it has on it before the day is done."

Too bad for you. The government requires all cell phones to be capable of reporting their location for 911 emergency purposes. The government can turn on your tracking remotely, but promises it won't do that except in an "emergency."

Strangely enough, "privacy" advocates believe that promise because, well, the government promises, and governments never lie. Instead, they panic that some corporation might learn your location. Apparently, door-to-door salesmen with the power to sell you something are scarier than government agents with the power to imprison or shoot you.

Go figure.

I'd rather deal with the Ferengi than the Klingons.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
MI5 17th Aug
Rachel King says, "Approximately 27,000 South Koreans are banding together to file a class action lawsuit..."

I doubt that's really true. The way class-action lawsuits really work is that a small group of lawyers band together and file a lawsuit "on behalf of" 27,000 people.

Most of the 27,000 have probably never even heard of the lawsuit.

If the lawsuit is successful, the "injured parties" will get a few pennies on the dollar while the lawyers get rich.

Unfortunately, that doesn't make a good journalistic narrative. Better to create the fiction of 27,000 people banding together to sue the Ferengi.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
jbourne408 17th Aug
@MI5 uh huh... I think this is very believable. Thanks for bringing that point up.
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they earn $ 270,000
belli_bettens@... 17th Aug
@MI5 Everyone who wanted to join the lawsuit had to cough up the equivalent of $10. So my guess is that's what those lawyers will get out of this. Not bad indeed.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
paul2@... 17th Aug
The whole privacy thing didn't even exist a hundred years ago. You lived in a small town and everybody knew everybody's business. I wonder who invented privacy. It's a heck of a boondoggle. What have you got to hide? I'm not ashamed of where I've been all day. And if people want to track me with the intention of robbing me (suckers!), they can go pretty low-tech.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
jpfiddle 17th Aug
@paul2@... Why don't you write your full name then?
Peter Kratoska
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
mschore@... 17th Aug
@jpfiddle -- exactly. I am tired of people hiding behind their anonymity. It is okay to write an anonymous post but then talk about nothing to hide from tracking systems??? That is just squirrelly!!!
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Really?
spdragoo@... 17th Aug
If anything, privacy was even bigger back then. Sure, your next-door neighbors might have known more about you than modern contemporaries might, but the ability for complete strangers to know your private business was nearly non-existent. Not to mention you're talking about eras when the average person (not just the super-rich or famous) would go to extreme lengths to avoid a hint of social scandal. Premarital sex? Supposedly didn't exist until the late 20th-Century... you just had teenage or college-age girls that "visited Aunt/Grandma Jill" for 8 or 9 months before coming back home. Or how about the age-old "John Doe lied about his age to enlist in the military"? Almost impossible to do nowadays, given both the documentation requirements and the verification procedures, but happened in the past.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
mschore@... 17th Aug
@paul2@... I'm glad you don't mind people in corporations and in government monitoring your movements. It isn't about me doing anything wrong or being ashamed--they just don't have the right, ESPECIALLY without my knowledge or consent! The Constitution clearly states that we are to be secure in our papers which is equal to privacy. The reason you don't see direct mention of privacy in the Constitution is that that word had a different meaning in the 1700s.

Why don't you go find some people that lived in Germany at the beginning of the Nazi 3rd Reich and ask them about the government listening to their phone calls and reading their mail.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
daengbo 17th Aug
@mschore@... Well, I guess we're finished on this topic. Everyone can go home now ....
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
smdunn 18th Aug
@paul2@...

Of course privacy existed (and continues to exist)... a matter is private until it is publicised. For example, everyone makes history, often quietly, and unrecorded, but just because you're ignorant of it, that does not mean it does not exist. That is, in part, their privacy.

As to the saying, "What have you got to hide?" just consider the reality that not everyone is your friend. A lack of genuine love reveals a foe, and foes will abuse, use, harm or cause you loss (whether for gain or for spite)... so why give your foes any traction, information, or advantage? It seems clear that only control freaks want to know everything about everyone. The question for them, is, why?
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
chazwilliams 17th Aug
Does anyone remember way back when Apple sued Microsoft because MS called their operating system "Windows" - which Apple tried to say was copyrightable. And does anyone also remember that the courts told Apple to go ef themselves??

Anyone think Apple is feeling deja vu about now?

Either Apple execs are great examples of not remembering how history played out in the past or they have too damn much money..... which they should be sharing with their customers in the very near future??
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
kevanf1 17th Aug
@chazwilliams
How about when Apple 'promised' not to go into the music business after legal action from Apple Music. Then along came the iPod and then iTunes.... Hypocritical or what?
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No, they just lost the right
SiO2 17th Aug
@kevanf1 to be a music company called Apple, because of Apple BMG. Seeing as they made computers and not music, they were entitled to keep trading as Apple.
Thats why its called iTunes etc, they couldnt get away with AppleTunes even, without a fight.

Say what you like about Jobs, for good or bad he crushed a few nuts in the music industry and gave us what we have now. At least it doesnt stifle creativity and rob the artists like the old Machine used to.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
ITOdeed 17th Aug
IMHO, my movements are worth much, much more than 3 million won.
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The patent system has become a joke
RAK5 17th Aug
What company isn't suing or being sued? Its a net loss for everybody, nobody gains except the lawyers. Typical for this country that is going down the drain faster and faster all the time.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
8Limes 17th Aug
@RAK5 No it is not a net loss for everybody. It is a win for the lawyers, and the winning party in the law suit. Do you really think I have to pay legal fees if I win? They will be most likely countersued for their unnecessary expenses and will likely win too. Or are you really that stupid and would not even try to get your money back you spent on for your 'defense'? I don't not know of a single company, not having gotten their money back in such a case.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
FuzzyBunnySlippers 19th Aug
@RAK5
So, you're suggestion for companies and entrepreneurs attempting to protect their rights to their own inventions and property is what, exactly? Or had you only thought 'so far'?
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
chazz1st 17th Aug
I think anyone worried about being tracked on cell phones must have something to hide.
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Its not about hiding - it is allowing yourself to be tracked
TAPhilo 17th Aug
@chazz1st
Scenario: You go around you day and X happens.
Government comes in and says to private company: we want your records for ALL cell phones that were at X location on this date - and your cell phone / system is part of the mix.
Now agents show up at your door and take you into custody since you were at X location at that time and now you are a suspect - and you have to PROVE that you were not involved. Remember: the government is trying to prove you were, and you have to prove that you were not. Circumstantial evidence put you there and what if - by chance - your actually followed the real cuplprit. Convictions HAVE been done based solely on cell phone location data. That the person carrying that cell phone had to be the culprit and since that cell phone was "theirs" therefore they are guilty.
Our USA Government is not allowed to track people - but any private firm IS allowed and then the Government can just get a court order to have them turn over the data.

Therein lies the danger.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
mike.mcd@... 17th Aug
@TAPhilo Really?The worst they could do is ask you witness-like questions. Stop exaggerating. These companies don't have the time or the resources to waste tracking your location... BECAUSE NOBODY CARES. If you have something to hide that's your problem. But circumstantial cell phone locations? Please. They're not even all that accurate, especially in the city.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
tim.w.jung@... 17th Aug
@mike.mcd
I don't know what kind of phone you have, but my iPhone is GPS accurate to within about 20 feet or so. It knows exactly where my house is and it knows when I am in the front or the back of the house inside. So yes the GPS data is very accurate and yes I do live in a major city. The only time I have seen it have problems is when I am in those warehouse stores that are mostly steel.
It is very easy to use the GPS to track what stores and resturants you go to. It would be worth quite a bit of money to companies and advertisers to know what stores you go to and have that linked to you personally. The amount of data involved is next to nothing, but worth a ton of money to the right people.
I should also mention that circumstantial evidence is how most criminal cases are actually won in the US. This idea that law enforcement does all these CSI tests and talks to dozens of people only happens on TV and in the movies. Eye witness testimony, which is widely known to be highly unreliable, is also used to convict large numbers of people, and the witness usually turns out to be wrong as well. So no I don't trust companies or the US government with this information since both have shown over and over again that if they have something, especially information about someone, they will abuse it like it was their own personal punching doll.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
MissionMan36 17th Aug
@TAPhilo They could do this simply by asking the mobile phone companies for the information anyway. As someone mentioned previously, the mobile phone companies store this information currently, they know exactly which towers you are near and your mobile phone ID's.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@tim.w.jung
1) Apple is not tracking you, and
2) the issue is NOT about GPS data, but rather cell tower locations data, and NOT necessarily even YOUR data, so what exactly is your point?!?
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
kmo911 Updated - 17th Aug
Its just like 1984 book. this is going over that book. 1984 are nothing up to year 2000-20xx. We need to get taken off that list. if yeah wanna be on the list you cool,but if you off then no 1e can make you. just turn off that phone. use it on work.if the boss want to trak you down thats ok. but not everywhere. apple need to make a tool to turn this off for uss users. somply turn off the phone take out the battery and see if they care. everybodo can turn off this thing by not using it.SiMPLE a s s it is. go for nokia 4 a while.old mobs dont have this inside them.still fbi want youre tracks. seem s out to be 2004 book and 20xx. the costumers nedd to say the dont want to be traced everywhere. it ok to be put on a list when you buy something from apple. that would be your user id and password. all to be said apple need s costumers.but not that way.wa also using mac mini air pro computers. should that not be a tracing system forr all then. i like macmini)
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@kmo911

Are you on drugs? Seriously, are you?
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
trm1945 17th Aug
The only way "THEY" could know exactly where you are is if your phone sent GPS coordinates every time it was used. For lost tourists, lost kids or careless stalkers, this would be a good thing. For others, there needs to be an off button for the GPS.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
tim.w.jung@... 17th Aug
@trm1945
The whole thing was that the GPS information was being recorded throughout the day and then uploaded to Apple. So yes they do know where you were and exactly when. That is whole security/privacy nightmare for people. You can already go to web sites and get full background reports, criminal records, job, tax, home own, subscriptions, some purchases and just about everything else you never thought would be public on anyone for the low low price of $20 these days. There are dozen of sites offering that now. Now if there are already problems with stalkers with just that data. Now imagine stalkers can get your daily schedule to know where you are routinely and when. Imagine a burgler who buys the data so he knows when you won't be home, so he can rob you. This is so ripe for abuse and corporations and the government have proven time and time again they will abuse the heck out it if they have it.
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Oh, please. Get over yourself. The fact is you simply
baggins_z 17th Aug
aren't important enough for Apple to give a rat's rear end where you were and when.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@tim.w.jung@...
No, the whole thing was NOT that GPS data was saved. In fact, this had NOTHING TO DO WITH GPS. Period. It is about cell tower location data, and Apple does not get any identifying information. Not that it would matter, as the data in the consolidated.db file is from multiple phones, not just yours, and as such, is meaningless as an indication of where you were.
You simply do NOT know what you are talking about.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
mrdelurk@... 17th Aug
It will be funny if it turns out that Apple implemented this GPS snitching under US govt. pressure... and thus forwards the bill to them.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
pupkin_z 17th Aug
@mrdelurk@... nobody told them to record the location and send back to Apple.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@pupkin_z

And they don't, so what is your point?
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@mrdelurk@...
The information has NOTHING to do with GPS. Jeeze, don't you people pay attention.
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I find it interesting ...
jscott69 17th Aug
... that folks would complain about being tracked by their cell phone when -- unless I'm mistaken -- that's always been the case with cell phones, since the phone companies always know which cell tower(s) your phone communicates through so they could accurately bill you for calls you placed or received.

AFAIK, they've had the ability to draw a map of where you've been based on that data. And I believe the same data was available even when you weren't talking (since your phone needs to let the network know where it is to receive a call).

if that's the case, then the only difference is that Apple knew in addition to AT&T (or Verizon or whatever carrier is used in Korea).
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
pupkin_z 17th Aug
@jscott69 Apple is not a cell phone provider. Why would the GPS location data be send to Apple?
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
tim.w.jung@... Updated - 17th Aug
@jscott69
The cell phone providers have never ever tracked your every single movement through their network when you are NOT making a call. They just didn't care and didn't have the resources to track everyone and do all the voice and data information together. Now the phone just does it for them and sends the data to Apple and not the carrier. Why in the world does Apple need timestamped GPS data of my movements/location throughout the day? The only possible reason is either tracking users for the government or tracking users to sell the data to data mining companies and advertisers. There is no possible other reason to need timestamped GPS data daily.

In case you have any doubt about being able to track a cellphone without GPS, remember that the FCC required cellphone providers and makers to add GPS to the phones because people were calling 911 and they had no idea where the person was and several of them died because of this. So no the cell phone companies have not been tracking the location of customers. If you have any doubts of that read up on the long complicated process the FBI and cell phone companies used to have to do to track hackers that were using cell phones to connect to the Internet. It wasn't easy or quick.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@tim.w.jung@...

Again, you have no idea what you are talking about, and really don't understand the technology here, at all. Or the law. Cell phone providers have NEVER been required to add GPS. You are just plain wrong.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
8Limes 17th Aug
@jscott69 yes, you are mistaken. Phone companies could only locate you when you made or received a call. Apple collects (and only Apple) your changing gps locations without your permission. It's not much different then a smart meter. They actually know wherever you are and they can analyze your behavior and which people you have contact with. Such things are illegal for private companies to do, and can only be done by the government. It is legal for police to track your gps locations without your consent and the need of a warrant. although for listening into your conversations they do. I do not personally have an issue, the government listening in or locating myself via gps, but I have a problem with that, when it is done by a private company which has no essential purpose for such information. What people are talking about being able to be located via cell towers is true, but only when you utilize the phone providers system, for example AT&T. They have that information, so they can bill you and are required by law to keep the records for government agencies available for a certain period of time. When Apple is not violating our personal privacy, what is it then?
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
deusexmachina  18th Aug
@8Limes

You have no idea what you are talking about. Apple does NOT store your GPS information, and does NOT send any GPS data back to Apple. You really need to inform yourself before you post declarative statements in public.
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RE: South Korean consumers band together to sue Apple
8Limes 15th Sep
Apple does NOT deny it and even apologized for utilizing data without their users consent! Why, when they don't do it? Please check up on reality once a while before you start trashing other people without reason. Its on you to prove that Apple apologized wrongly to us and they did none of that. What they use the data for is irrelevant, collecting it is already to much!

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