LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Latest on a lawsuit over use of location data collected from users of The Weather Channel’s mobile app (all times local):
11:50 a.m.
The owner of The Weather Channel denies any impropriety with use of location data collected from users of its mobile app.
IBM Corp. issued a statement Friday in response to a lawsuit by the Los Angeles city attorney claiming app users are misled to think the data is only used for personalized weather information but it is actually sold to third parties.
IBM says there has always been transparency about use of location data and it will be vigorously defended.
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10:39 a.m.
Los Angeles prosecutors say they’re suing The Weather Channel to stop it from tracking the whereabouts of app users and selling the data to third parties.
City Attorney Michael Feuer said Friday that users of the popular app are misled to think their location data will only be used for personalized forecasts and alerts.
Feuer says The Weather Channel intentionally obscured its motives in a lengthy privacy policy that got four-fifths of users to agree to share geolocation data.
The lawsuit comes as companies such as Facebook and Google are under fire for sharing users’ information.
Feuer says The Weather Channel sold data to at least a dozen websites for targeted ads.
A spokeswoman for the company, which is a subsidiary of IBM, didn’t immediately return messages seeking comment.
