Apple Inc 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 on Monday.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Apple was the defendant in the latest lawsuit, brought as a proposed class action by a consumer who purchased downloads from iTunes. Online retailers eBay Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc also filed briefs supporting Apple.<\/p>\n
An Apple spokeswoman declined to comment, and an attorney for the plaintiff could not be reached.<\/p>\n
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.”<\/p>\n
But the four justices in the majority disagreed. “These ominous assertions, though eye-catching, do not withstand scrutiny,” Justice Goodwin Liu wrote.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
“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.<\/p>\n
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