GigaOM Pro

Computerworld is reporting this morning that a group of 13 consumers have filed a class-action suit against 18 companies claiming they distributed apps that invade users’ privacy. The suit targets heavyweights including Apple, Facebook and Twitter, and centers on apps that allegedly gather data from users’ address books surreptitiously and upload that data to servers. I have no idea how this will play out — although I don’t expect any of the big companies to settle this quickly — but I think we’ll see many more of these types of lawsuits as consumers increasingly understand how app developers, advertisers and others are using all sorts of methods to learn as much about them as possible.