California Supreme Court Finds Apple not Guilty in Credit Card Lawsuit
It's being reported this morning that Apple and other online retailers did not break California law by requiring consumers to provide their address and phone numbers as a condition of accepting credit card payments, the state's high court ruled. In a split decision, the California Supreme Court said state privacy protections for credit cards do not apply to online purchases that are downloaded electronically.
The ruling comes after the same court in 2011 said that those privacy protections do apply to brick and mortar retailers, finding that they could not request a customer's ZIP code during a credit card transaction.
Apple was the defendant in the latest lawsuit, brought as a proposed class action by a consumer who purchased downloads from iTunes. Online retailer's eBay and Wal-Mart Stores also filed briefs supporting Apple.
Three dissenting California Supreme Court justices argued that the ruling represents "a major win for these sellers, but a major loss for consumers, who in their online activities already face an ever-increasing encroachment upon their privacy."
But the four justices in the majority disagreed. "These ominous assertions, though eye-catching, do not withstand scrutiny," Justice Goodwin Liu wrote.
Other state and federal privacy laws protect against disclosure of personal identification information, Liu wrote for the majority. Additionally, electronic retailers need more safeguards against fraud than traditional shops.
"Unlike a brick-and-mortar retailer, an online retailer cannot visually inspect the credit card, the signature on the back of the card, or the customer's photo identification," Liu wrote.
The case in the Supreme Court of California is Apple vs. The Superior Court of Los Angeles County and David Krescent, S199384.
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