But this is a larger problem than just Path. In a post from earlier today, Dustin Curtis reveals the dirty little secret of iPhone developers everywhere.
It’s not really a secret, per se, but there’s a quiet understanding among many iOS app developers that it is acceptable to send a user’s entire address book, without their permission, to remote servers and then store it for future reference. It’s common practice, and many companies likely have your address book stored in their database. Obviously, there are lots of awesome things apps can do with this data to vastly improve user experience. But it is also a breach of trust and an invasion of privacy.
I did a quick survey of 15 developers of popular iOS apps, and 13 of them told me they have a contacts database with millons of records. One company’s database has Mark Zuckerberg’s cell phone number, Larry Ellison’s home phone number and Bill Gates’ cell phone number. This data is not meant to be public, and people have an expectation of privacy with respect to their contacts.
Any app, from Angry Birds to Fart App 3000, can just grab the information in your address book without asking? Not okay!
Some popular apps that use this hidden function: Angry Birds, Facebook, and TextPlus 4 all transmit address book data to a server.
From everyone at Gadgetzz, Happy Holidays!Thank you for the support and we extend our best… Read More
With the advent of advanced technology and the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more individuals are… Read More
IMG 3422 Dear Gadgetzz readers, as some of you may have noticed, there hasn’t been… Read More
Guest post by Rebecca Alston Source- Unsplash If you’re like most business owners, you spend… Read More
https://youtu.be/y7pgYWuV5wE This is a rebuttal to video about Teslas interior build quality. I'm not outright… Read More
pc case chassis When assembling a personal computer (PC), most people tend to put the… Read More