Apple has been sued over a lawsuit alleging that it rejected a coronavirus contact detection app to maintain a COVID-19 exposure notification monopoly.
The case, which was filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Hampshire on Tuesday, concerns a smartphone application called “Coronavirus Reporter” that was denied access to the App Store in March 2020.
Coronavirus Reporter, according to the lawsuit, was developed in February 2020 by a team of healthcare and computer science experts to “capture critical biostatistical and epidemiological data while it was happening”.
The team behind the app completed its development on March 3, the complaint continues. This is about the time that Apple banned coronavirus-related apps that were not from recognized medical, government, or other agencies in the App Store.
In an announcement posted on the developer’s website in mid-March last year, the technology giant made its commitment to making the App Store a “safe and reliable place” and said it was critically evaluating coronavirus-related apps to ensure that data sources are reliable and that developers offering these applications come from recognized institutions such as government organizations, health-oriented NGOs, companies with a good reputation in health issues and medical or educational institutions. It also recognized the time-sensitive nature of publishing said apps and made accommodation to speed up the review process.
After Apple rejected Coronavirus Reporter, the app developers filed an appeal. The title was eventually rejected about twenty days later because it was not backed by a reputable healthcare company and that the “user-generated data was not verified by a trusted source for accuracy.”
According to the complaint, about a month later, Apple allowed another app that works in the same way in the App Store. It also touches on an issue with Apple’s framework and Google Exposure Notification, which he says is ‘largely a failure’.
In addition to ensuring accurate data from legitimate sources, Apple’s platform for notifying exposure about the platform, developed in partnership with Google, is built on a first privacy framework. The system denies the storage of personal data on central servers and relies on anonymous Bluetooth beacons on user devices until participants choose to share the information with an outside party. If and when a user is diagnosed with COVID-19, they can choose to upload a 14-day list of recent contacts (again, anonymized) to a distribution server, which matches beacon IDs and notifications that the individuals warn that they are entering. close contact with a carrier of the virus. Doctors can also go through the data, if such access is granted.
Third-party applications that integrate with the Exposure Notification API must adhere to Apple’s rules.
The lawsuit alleges that Apple blocked Coronavirus Reporter in an attempt to maintain a monopoly on contact detection applications. In addition, it claims that Apple’s ability to “determine arbitrarily which applications will or will not be published” has significant competitive effects. ”
The lawsuit states that these actions are violations of the Sherman Act on monopolism. It seeks to give a ruling on the alleged anti-competitive conduct; damages of more than $ 75,000; and a permanent assignment that demonstrates Apple’s ability to ‘[restrict] reasonable applications. ”