Apple responds to privacy concerns, to enforce opt-in contact sharing

Apple has finally spoken up about the Path contact sharing privacy concerns that seem to have embroiled the internet in heated discussion as to where the blame lies. Apparently many apps, including Twitter, Foursquare, Yelp and others, have been transmitting users’ contact information to their servers for a long time, but it took until Path’s more indiscriminate snafu to publicize the trend.

An Apple spokesperson has said, “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.” This is expected to mimic the way an app asks for permission to send push notifications, or to use your location. All of the outed apps are using contact information to match users to accounts in private social networks, but they were doing it without permission, which goes against Apple’s app guidelines.

Lets hope this puts an end to the dispute and teaches all involved a quick lesson: a user’s privacy is his or hers alone to forgo.

Source: The Verge