Apple Sued for Millions by iTunes Customers Claiming Personal Information was Sold to Third Parties

(Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto)

The company's privacy policy maintains that they collect data that is not directly tied to any specific user.

A group of customers has filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, claiming the company sold personal information from their iTunes purchases to third parties.

According to a report from Billboard, Leigh Wheaton, Jill Paul, and Trevor Paul, are charging the tech giant with undermining their own data-privacy policy, which states that only "non-personal data" is collected and that any information they obtain is not tied to any specific user.

The plaintiffs claim that "None of the information pertaining to the music you purchase on your iPhone stays on your iPhone," adding that Apple "profits handsomely from its unauthorized sale, rental, transmission" of personal data from customers, supplementing revenue by offering up the information of millions of customers to data aggregators, list brokers, cooperatives, and developers of apps currently available in the company's proprietary App Store.

Though Apple representatives have yet to respond or issue a public statement, the company's privacy states that it gathers data "in a form that does not, on its own, permit direct association with any specific individual." But it goes on, claiming that it reserves the right to "collect, use, transfer, and disclose that non-personal information for any purpose" it sees fit.