Already under siege over its iMessage system, Apple must now face claims that it violated users privacy by blocking them from receiving some text messages after they ditched their iPhones.
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose allowed plaintiffs to move forward with claims that Apple illegally intercepted text messages sent to them by iPhone users after they switched over to Android devices, in violation of the federal Wiretap Act. Apple argued that users gave consent when they signed on to the iOS software license agreement, which notes the company may briefly hold iMessages during the delivery process. But Koh agreed with plaintiffs that they had not given Apple permission to hang onto the messages indefinitely.
The Court concludes that a reasonable iMessage user would not be adequately notified that Apple would intercept his or her messages, Koh wrote in a 23-page order issued Wednesday.
Koh rejected plaintiffs claims filed under the Stored Communications Act and a few state laws but allowed them to try again. Plaintiffs lawyer Joshua Ezrin cheered the order, which he said affirmed the core of his case against Apple.
They re effectively taking somebody s private messages, he said.
Backhaut v. Apple, which was filed earlier this year, centers on a pesky problem for iPhone defectors: missing texts. Plaintiff Joy Backhaut, an iPhone user from Michigan, continued to text her husband, Adam, after he traded his iPhone for an HTC One. But Joy eventually realized that her husband wasn t receiving the messages, though her iPhone indicated they had been delivered.
It s a story echoed in Moore v. Apple, another case filed in the Bay Area s federal court that alleges that the Cupertino-based company interfered with users service contracts with Verizon by failing to deliver texts. Koh consolidated the cases last week, meaning they will move forward together as evidence is gathered discovery.
Apple has made several attempts to re-route texts to users after they leave its ecosystem, most recently allowing people to deregister their phone numbers from its logs. Apple lawyer David Walsh of law firm Morrison & Foerster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Above: Apple must face more claims over glitches in its iMessage system (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images).
