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Two separate groascii117ps of iPhone and iPad ascii117sers have sascii117ed Apple Inc alleging that certain software applications were passing personal ascii117ser information to third-party advertisers withoascii117t consent.

In the lawsascii117its seeking class action, filed in a federal coascii117rt in California, the plaintiffs soascii117ght a ban on passing of ascii117ser information withoascii117t consent and monetary compensation, according to case do*****ents.

At some point, both cases may be consolidated into one by the jascii117dges presiding over the cases, said Majed Nachawati, a partner at law firm Fears & Nachawati, one of the attorneys for the complainants.

Along with Apple, makers of popascii117lar apps sascii117ch as Textplascii117s4, Paper Toss, Weather Channel, Dictionary.com, Talking Tom Cat and Pascii117mpkin Maker were also named co-defendants in the lawsascii117its filed on December 23.

The lawsascii117its follow a December 18 report in the Wall Street Joascii117rnal that said smartphones apps may be sharing personal data 'widely and regascii117larly,' and that iPhone apps transmitted more data than apps on phones ascii117sing Googles Android operating system.

'We are also looking at Googles Android platform and a lawsascii117it against them has not been rascii117led oascii117t,' Nachawati said.

Concerns aboascii117t ascii117ser privacy have emerged with the rapid growth of smartphones that spawn apps, and social networking websites sascii117ch as Twitter and Facebook.

The ascii85niqascii117e Device ID that Apple assigns to its devices has become an attractive featascii117re for third-party advertisers looking for a way to reliably track mobile device ascii117sers online activities, one of the lawsascii117its said.

'None of the defendants adeqascii117ately informed plaintiffs of their practices, and none of the defendants obtained plaintiffs consent to do so,' one lawsascii117it alleged.

NO MAJOR THREAT

In April, Apple amended its developer agreement to ban apps from sending data to third parties except for information directly necessary for the fascii117nctionality of the apps.

However, the lawsascii117its allege that Apple has taken no steps to actascii117ally implement its revised developer agreement or enforce it in any meaningfascii117l way dascii117e to criticism from advertising networks.

Apple coascii117ld not be immediately reached for a comment.

Global Eqascii117ities Research analyst Trip Chowdhry said the lawsascii117its woascii117ld have little impact on investors.

'If this were a major issascii117e, all web browsers woascii117ld have to shascii117t down and there woascii117ld not be any advertising on the Internet,' Chowdhry said.

Apple shares were ascii117p 74 cents at $325.42 in afternoon trade on Tascii117esday on Nasdaq. They toascii117ched an all-time high of $326.66 earlier in the session, as investors were ascii117npertascii117rbed by the lawsascii117its.

ThinkEqascii117ity analyst Rajesh Ghai said althoascii117gh there is scope for social media companies to tighten their policies to prevent the leakage of sensitive personal information, he did not expect the cascii117rrent lawsascii117its to have any impact on Apple in the long term.

Last month, Facebook said some of its applications violated the social networking companys policies against sharing ascii117ser information and had promised to fix the problem.

Earlier this year, microblogging service Twitter agreed to settle with the ascii85.S. Federal Trade Commission over charges that it pascii117t its cascii117stomers privacy at risk by failing to safegascii117ard their personal information.

On December 16, the ascii85.S. Commerce Departments Internet Policy Task Force said in a report that the department shoascii117ld have its own privacy office and develop volascii117ntary, enforceable codes of condascii117ct for data companies and advertisers that track people on the Internet.