U.S District Court Judge Lucy H. Koh has dismissed a consumer lawsuit over data privacy against Apple.

The plaintiffs had claimed that iPhone apps available in the App Store, intercepted personal information and tracked users without their consent.

The plaintiffs were seeking damages as they argued that they overpaid for their iPhones given the decreased battery life and bandwidth caused by apps’ data collection practices.

Judge Koh ruled that the plaintiffs failed to prove that they relied on the representations contained in Apple’s privacy policy, and that they were harmed by them.

Interestingly, Judge Koh noted that scrolling through the screen and ticking on the box stating that they agreed to Apple’s privacy policy, did not establish that the plaintiffs actually read the representations contained in Apple’s privacy policy.

Here’s some of the excerpts from the ruling from the Courtroom News service:

“Critically, none of the plaintiffs presents evidence that he or she even saw, let alone read and relied upon, the alleged misrepresentations contained in the Apple Privacy Policies, SLAs [Software License Agreements], or App Store Terms and Conditions, either prior to purchasing his or her iPhone, or at any time thereafter,” Koh wrote. [..]

[..] “Plaintiffs each allude to a vague ‘understanding’ regarding Apple’s privacy policies without providing any evidence whatsoever concerning the basis for this understanding,” the 30-page judgment states. “But a vague ‘understanding’ about Apple’s privacy policies is not enough. To survive summary judgment, plaintiffs are required to set forth ‘specific facts’ in support of standing.” [..]

[..] But without “some evidence that [plaintiffs] saw one or more of Apple’s alleged misrepresentations, that they actually relied on those misrepresentaions, and that they were harmed thereby,” the plaintiffs have no case, Koh concluded (italics in original). 

This is apparently just one part of the nationwide litigation that consolidates 19 related lawsuits.

It is good to see courts dismissing such baseless and opportunistic lawsuits. Let me know what you think in the comments below.