“U.S. legislators on Wednesday sought more information from Apple Inc regarding its privacy policies, pulling the iPhone manufacturer into a swelling controversy over how developers on its popular iOS mobile platform have been able to access users’ private address book data,” Gerry Shih reports for Reuters.
“In a letter addressed to Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook, Representatives Henry Waxman of California and G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina, both Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, asked Apple to clarify its developer guidelines and the measures taken by the company to screen apps that are sold on its App Store,” Shih reports. “The letter comes after Path, a San Francisco startup that makes a Facebook-like social networking app, attracted widespread criticism last week after a Singaporean developer discovered that Path’s iPhone app had been quietly uploading his contacts’ names and phone numbers onto Path’s servers. In the following days, other technology bloggers discovered that iPhone apps like Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Foodspotting similarly uploads user data – without permission, in some cases.”
Shih reports, “The Path incident ‘raises questions about whether Apple’s iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts,’ the letter said.”
Read more in the full article here.
Related articles:
Apple: App access to contact data will require explicit user approval – February 15, 2012
Path and Hipster apps found swiping users’ address books – February 9, 2012