HTC, AccuWeather Sued For Privacy 'Defect' In Smartphones
Two consumers filed a potential class-action lawsuit against HTC and AccuWeather.com over a weather app that comes bundled with smartphones and allegedly can be used to track users' locations.
Chad Goodman and Jon Olson allege in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday that the HTC EVO 3D and 4G phones are “defective” because they came with a preinstalled AccuWeather app that “caused the smartphones to function in undesirable ways.”
The consumers allege that the phones transmit users' approximate locations throughout the day, and also send “fine, GPS-based location data” -- accurate to within a few feet -- whenever users tap the AccuWeather widget.
The app can't be uninstalled or disabled, they allege.
“Defendants integrated an AccuWeather application into plaintiffs' HTC smartphones, ostensibly to make weather information conveniently available to plaintiffs,” they assert in their court papers, filed Wednesday in federal district court in Seattle. “In actuality, defendants have used and continue to use the application to track plaintiffs' exact geographic location for defendants' own purposes.”
Goodman, a resident of San Diego, Calif., and Olson, of Minneapolis, Minn., say that AccuWeather uses the location information in order to build profiles of users and send them targeted ads. They additionally say that the location data is sent to AccuWeather in an unencrypted format that doesn't meet security standards. They allege that the app violates consumer protection laws in California and Minnesota.
Goodman and Olson say they overpaid for their devices, on the theory that the phones would have cost less if they “had been labeled accurately and had contained adequate disclosures about their defects.”
The consumers say they're now entitled to a refund or a replacement phone, and are asking that HTC and AccuWeather.com purge any personal information they collected. The complaint doesn't specify how much Goodman and Olson paid for their phones. An AccuWeather.com spokesperson said the company hadn't yet been served with the lawsuit.
A spokesperson for HTC said the company hasn't yet had an opportunity to review the case.
Recent Online Media Daily Articles
-
Coca-Cola Loses Bid To Dismiss Text-Spam Case May 24, 5:41 p.m.
Consumers can proceed with a lawsuit against Coca-Cola for allegedly sending them unwanted SMS messages, a ... -
Disaster Ready: Google Maps Model Quickly Adjusts To Events May 24, 5:29 p.m.
The four-lane bridge in Washington state that partially collapsed Thursday into the Skagit River was removed ... -
Pandora Beats Rev Estimates, Adds Subscribers May 24, 5:01 p.m.
Online radio service Pandora on Thursday reported that revenue rose 55% in the first quarter to $126 ... -
Real-Time Web Turns Consumers Into Impulse Buyers May 24, 4:37 p.m.
Video, mobile, social, and better search capabilities continue to make it easy for consumers to buy ... -
Mugnier Shares M&C Saatchi's Mobile Approach May 24, 4:32 p.m.
M&C Saatchi Mobile was formed three years ago through the acquisition of mobile marketing agency Inside ... -
Yahoo Search Experiments With New Look May 23, 6:30 p.m.
Yahoo Search has been experimenting with colors, features and layouts, as the company tries to determine ... -
Path Seeks Dismissal Of Wireless-Spam Case May 23, 5:07 p.m.
Mobile social network Path is asking a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit alleging that the ... -
Amazon Appstore Goes Global May 23, 4:59 p.m.
Amazon may have been late to the app store game, but that hasn’t stopped it from ... -
Data Is Springboard For Product Development May 23, 4:44 p.m.
iProspect named Ben Wood to global president Thursday; he's tasked with growing the company's network and ... -
Vice, Twitter Partner For Mobile Show May 23, 2:14 p.m.
Simultaneously expanding its video and social strategy, Vice on Thursday unveiled #dailyvice -- a daily show ...
Be the first to comment on "HTC, AccuWeather Sued For Privacy 'Defect' In Smartphones "
Leave a Comment