Lawsuit Claims Game Company Violating Privacy, Collecting iPhone Users’ Phone Numbers
The Register is reporting that a lawsuit has been filed against an iPhone game developer for privacy violations:
The complaint claims best-selling games made by Storm8 contained secret code that bypassed safeguards built into the iPhone to prevent the unauthorized snooping of user information. [...] to access, collect, and transmit the wireless phone numbers of the iPhones on which its games are installed,” states the complaint, which was filed in US District Court in Northern California. “Storm8 does so or has done so in all of its games.” [...] [including] World War, iMobsters, Racing Live, Vampires Live, Kingdoms Live, Zombies Live, and Rockstars Live.
The complaint claims they’re violating the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and is seeking Class Action status. It’s not the first time we’ve heard about apps violating user privacy, hopefully Apple’s new iPhone security manager will first and foremost focus on these types of exploits. And, yeah, let the courts smite any abusive developers in the meantime…
[via Wabbit in the TiPb forums]
November 8th, 2009 at 3:05 pm
Another reason for me to clean house and erase apps I don’t use.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
^^ yeah second that.
Sometimes it seems Like technology moves so fast there’s no way to foresee all the ways it can be exploited.
A few get burned then the tech is hopefully updated once the exploit is made public.
Wen will the Internet be transformed from the wild west that it is now, and how? What does the future hold? dims lights, sparks spilff, drops the needle on dark side of the moon
November 8th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
I don’t like how easy it is for apps to get your phone number, Apple should reject apps which do it IMO.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
@frog
the sdk does not protect the contacts, your info, or even your email on the iphone so once an app is approved, and while it might show you one thing, it can data mine all your info to a host pc and you will not even know it.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
MADNESS! Iphone sends personel information to the developers of certain apps.
Click my name and check the full story.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Question; does the privacy app on JB in cydia prevent them doing this? I have it installed, but it only has a handfull of developers on it’s list. to what I can work out anyhow.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I’ve never trusted anything Storm8 put out, and they’ve always annoyed me with the quantity of “apps” they release which are usually nothing more than a re-skinned version of their other apps.
I blocked every app by them a long time ago on Facebook and Myspace and they’ll never make it on to my iPhone.
Especially now that my suspicions have been confirmed.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:25 am
THEY PULLED THEM FROM THE APPS TORE GO APPLE!!!
November 9th, 2009 at 5:50 am
I am agree with you.Thanks for this