Apple has apparently paid a South Korean lawyer 1 million won ($945) to settle a suit alleging the company’s iPhone collected location information without his consent, according to a report published by Reuters yesterday.
Apple Korea was ordered by a court to pay Kim Hyung-suk, a lawyer, compensation, according to two officials at Changwon District Court who declined to be identified, Reuters reported.
Kim’s law firm, Mirae Law, is now preparing a class action lawsuit against Apple and is setting up a website for users to make claims.
Apple declined to comment on the report, but if true, this would be the first public admission that the company was guilty of any wrong doing after evidence surfaced that the iPhone was permanently tracking and storing location data.
A report published by independent researchers in April that showed how the iPhone tracked location set off a widespread investigation into location privacy by Congressional panels here in the United States. Apple denied any wrong doing, saying a software bug was the cause of the problem and released a fix shortly thereafter.
Since then, Sen. Al Franken, (D-Minn.) introduced legislation that he says is aimed at protecting consumers’ privacy and abating stalking via location information obtained from mobile phones.
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