The lawsuit, between Apple and consumer protection group Verbraucherzentrale Bundesverband (VZBV), related to Apple's request of its users for 'global consent' to use customers' data.
The German court appears to have struck down blanket policies that allow Apple to share personal information with other companies or use it for advertising, regardless of what the ultimate purpose is. Instead, to comply with German law, Apple will need to be more explicit about exactly what information is being shared, and what it will be used for.
A Berlin court struck down eight of 15 provisions in Apple’s general data-use terms because they deviate too much from German laws, a consumer group said in a statement on its website today. The court said Apple can’t ask for “global consent” to use customer data or use information on the locations of customers.
Apple had previously agreed to void the other seven provisions that the VZBV had flagged as problematic. Instead, the company will need to let customers know "in detail what data is used for what purpose", instead of a single "global consent".
The full report is available in German from VZBV's website, or via Google Translate. It should be noted that this ruling only applies to Germany, not to the entire European Union.
I've seen far more pokes and jabs at Germany in this thread than people calling out that what they did was great. That is how standing up for the consumer, your citizens, differs from standing up for the big corporations who already have enough money to stand up for themselves. Privacy policies are a joke in the US, and when you agree to them you give away some of your own rights and freedoms.
The same person who uses his/her cell phone any place, talks loud without regard for who is near and doesn't care who listens to the conversation is probably the one that needs to be protected!
Instead of blindly defending Apple, the article states that this relates to how customer data, and which data, are used and by whom. The German court states that Apple cannot request global consent and must instead specifically inform customers of this information.
Tuesday November 28, 2023 3:09 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is ending its credit card partnership with Goldman Sachs, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple plans to stop working with Goldman Sachs in the next 12 to 15 months, and it is not yet clear if Apple has established a new partnership for the Apple Card. Apple and Goldman Sachs will dissolve their entire consumer partnership, including the Apple Card and the Apple Savings account....
Tuesday November 28, 2023 12:18 pm PST by Juli Clover
Apple is wrapping up development on iOS 17.2, with the update expected to come out in December. While we're getting to the end of the beta testing period, Apple is still tweaking features and adding new functionality. We've rounded up everything new in the fourth beta of iOS 17.2. Default Notification Sound Under Sounds & Haptics, there's a new "Default Alerts" section that allows you to ...
Thursday November 30, 2023 10:12 am PST by Juli Clover
Apple today released iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2, small updates to the iOS 17 and iPadOS 17 operating systems that Apple introduced in September. iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2 come a few weeks after the release of iOS 17.1.1, another bug fix update. iOS 17.1.2 and iPadOS 17.1.2 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update....
Wednesday November 29, 2023 4:19 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple is discontinuing in-house modem development after several unsuccessful attempts to perfect its own custom 5G modem chip, according to unconfirmed reports coming out of Asia. According to the operator of news aggregator account "yeux1122" on the Naver blog, supply chain sources related to Apple's 5G modem departments claim that the company's attempts to develop its own modem have...
Tuesday November 28, 2023 7:44 am PST by Joe Rossignol
At WWDC in June 2022, Apple previewed the next generation of CarPlay, promising deeper integration with vehicle functions like A/C and FM radio, support for multiple displays across the dashboard, increased personalization, and more. Apple's website still says the first vehicles with support for the next-generation CarPlay experience will be announced in "late 2023," but it has not shared...
Monday November 27, 2023 7:03 am PST by Joe Rossignol
As the end of 2023 nears, now is a good opportunity to look back at some of the devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year. Apple products discontinued in 2023 include the iPhone 13 mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, MagSafe Battery Pack, MagSafe Duo Charger, and leather accessories. Also check out our lists of Apple products discontinued in 2022 and 2021. iPhone Mini ...
Monday November 27, 2023 8:24 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple will likely release iOS 17.1.2 this week, based on mounting evidence of the software in our website's analytics logs in recent days. As a minor update, iOS 17.1.2 should be focused on bug fixes, but it's unclear exactly which issues might be addressed. Some users have continued to experience Wi-Fi issues on iOS 17.1.1, so perhaps iOS 17.1.2 will include the same fix for Wi-Fi...
Friday December 1, 2023 2:57 am PST by Tim Hardwick
Apple made the first beta of iOS 17.2 available to developers in October. Since then we've seen three more betas, and with each iteration Apple continues to add more new features and changes, many of which users have been anticipating for quite a while. Below, we've listed 28 new things that are coming to your iPhone when the finalized version is publicly released this December. 1. Help...
Top Rated Comments
Maybe they could buy the east part and build a walled garden around it?
:p
Sad but true...
Instead of blindly defending Apple, the article states that this relates to how customer data, and which data, are used and by whom. The German court states that Apple cannot request global consent and must instead specifically inform customers of this information.
Seems pretty fair, in my opinion.