Apple hit with class action suit for spying on iPhone users (Here are the court filings)

Apple has been hit with a class action suit on behalf of 100 million iPhone users who, allegedly, are being spied on by the phone's location tracking tools.

According to the suit, filed in Federal Court in San Jose by lead plaintiff Chen Ma...

In or around September 2012, Apple released iPhone 4 which contains an iOS operating system software that enables iPhone 4 to track its users’ whereabouts down to every minute, record the duration that users stay at any given geographical point, and periodically transmit these data stored on the users’ devices to Apple’s data base for future references.

...Plaintiff alleges that while using her iPhones, including her current iPone [sic] 5S, she was not given notice that her daily whereabouts would be tracked, recorded, and transmitted to Apple database to be stored for future reference. She was not asked for and thus has not given her consent, approval and permission nor was she even made aware that her detailed daily whereabouts would be tracked, recorded and transmitted to Apple database. Ma in particular objects to reports that her data might be shared with the US government...

According to belief and information, Plaintiff further alleges that Apple has released and disclosed the above described private information of iPhone users to third parties, including but not limited to US government who, according to information, has made more than 1,000 information requests to Apple..

On or about July 11, 2014, China’s Central Television (CCTV) announced its investigation into iPhones’ Location Service, revealing for the first time that her iPhone 5S tracks and records her daily whereabouts without her knowledge, and Apple has been surreptitiously acquiring the data of her daily whereabouts down to every minutes without her knowledge, consent approval and permission.

Ma says in the court documents that she first heard that Apple was tracking her from a news report on China state television......because God knows, Chinese state television knows a thing about governments using technology to spy on large numbers of people.

Ma is seeking an injunction to prevent Apple continuing to track users, along with class certification for the suit and punitive damages.

Here's the court filing...