The tech giant Apple is currently under legal scrutiny in a class-action lawsuit relating to iCloud Private Relay privacy. This feature was part of iCloud+ subscription. Clarkson Law Firm initiated this lawsuit on August 11. According to the law firm, iCloud Private Relay was not offering all the privacy that Apple guaranteed. This includes fraud and false advertising. This lawsuit revolves around the way the privacy feature deals with the IP addresses of users.
Apple Sued Over Hide My Email Privacy Feature
iCloud Private Relay is supposed to offer enhanced privacy to users with iCloud+ when surfing the web. When users browse with Safari, their web traffic is sent through two separate relays. An IP address is a number that can identify a device or internet connection online. It can also help websites estimate a user’s location. Instead of showing the real IP address, Private Relay uses a temporary IP address to reduce location tracking by websites and advertising platforms. However, the reported iCloud Private Relay IP Leak raises concerns about whether the feature can always hide the user’s real IP address.
Private Relay by Apple is very different from a typical Virtual Private Network (VPN). Private Relay mainly protects browsing in Safari, while a VPN can usually protect internet traffic from different apps on the device. Your internet service provider (ISP) can see that your device is connecting to an Apple relay. However, it should not see the specific websites you visit. Websites receive a temporary IP address instead of your real IP address.
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Researchers Found Ways to See Real IP Addresses
The suit followed security researchers Tommy Mysk and Talal Haj Bakry’s revelation of flaws in Private Relay on August 4. The findings showed that some websites could access a user’s real IP address while the service was active. For related security alerts, users can also learn how to check an Apple Threat Notification on iPhone.
Mysk and Haj Bakry investigated several WebKit features used for internet connections, including DNS prefetching, WebAuthn, and WebTransport. Their research found that some of these features could allow network requests to bypass Private Relay. The Browser IP & DNS Leak Checker can help users check whether their real IP address may be exposed.
The Issue Can Affect More Than Safari
As far as the researchers are concerned, this issue is not only applicable to Apple’s Safari web browser. Other browsers on iPhone and iPad have to work using the WebKit browser engine developed by Apple. Thus, they can also suffer from some of the WebKit-based problems. Such a privacy-focused browser as Onion Browser based on the Tor network, could also be influenced by the problem in question. Hence, the discovery in question is more general than merely being related to Safari.
Apart from that, Mysk and Bakry created an online tool for testing one’s connection. With this tool, users can check if their real IP address is exposed while Private Relay is on. This helps them find out if their connection is affected. Nonetheless, the research results and lawsuit are different from the ultimate court decision.
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What Apple Has Said
It is important to note that Apple has not yet made an official statement about the lawsuit. iCloud+ subscribers do not need to take any action at this time. Private Relay remains available to eligible users. The case is still pending, and the court has not ruled on the claims. The lawsuit raises questions about Apple’s privacy promises. Separately, Apple is also working on iPhone to Windows Copy and Paste for users in the EU.
For iCloud+ users, the main concern is IP address privacy while browsing the internet. If you want to hide your location from websites, it is important to understand Private Relay and its limits. A full VPN can offer more protection by covering internet traffic across your device. This is because a VPN covers the traffic of the device in general. News source eTimes Pakistan.
