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iCloud terms and conditions may be illegal, says Italian antitrust regulator

The Italian antitrust regulator has found that Apple’s iCloud terms and conditions are unreasonable and unfair to consumers, and may breach consumer protection laws. It’s the latest in a long line of antitrust investigations and lawsuits faced by the Cupertino company.

An investigation and public consultation was carried out following complaints, and a number of Apple’s terms were considered unlawful.

The announcement was made in a report by the Autorità Garante Della Concorrenza E Del Mercato (The Guarantee Authority for Competition and the Market).

It says that every consumer association that participated in the consultation agreed that the terms were unbalanced and unfair. In particular, it cites three elements.

Apple’s right to modify the terms

iCloud terms and conditions say that Apple can unilaterally modify them at any time, without imposing any concrete limits on the impact of these changes. The contract relies on vague terms that say that any changes must be “reasonable,” without providing examples.

Lack of data safeguards and guarantees

Apple encourages consumers to use iCloud to secure and backup their data, yet the company does not offer any details of the safeguards it employs, nor does it offer any guarantees. Indeed, its terms specifically exclude any liability for loss of data.

The authority found that marketing materials for iCloud describe it as a safe form of storage and backup, while the terms and conditions contradict this. One example given is that Apple states that it has the right to delete iCloud backups if they are not updated in a six-month period, while most consumers are entirely unaware of this, assuming their data to be safe indefinitely.

Other liability exclusions

The regulator found that the contract makes extensive use of wide-ranging exclusions of liability, such that the company could absolve itself of any failures without compensating consumers. It also says that the terms make it very uncertain which jurisdiction applies.

Apple defends iCloud terms and conditions

Apple states that it has only changed the terms twice in five years, once purely to change the name of the company, and the other changes favored by the consumer.

The iPhone maker says that it offers a free iCloud tier [the infamous and almost entirely useless 5GB one] and that it cannot be expected to retain free data indefinitely. It says that the liability limits expressly state that they apply only to the maximum permitted by law, and therefore cannot breach the law.

More broadly, Apple says that such conditions are common to all cloud services, and are designed simply to draw the attention of consumers to the fact that no cloud service is entirely risk-free.

It’s not immediately clear what the next step will be in resolving the dispute.

Thanks, Carlo. Photo: Spencer Davis/Unsplash.

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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