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If no explicit permission is given by the user, how is this practice not illegal?
by timjahn 15y ago
If no explicit permission is given by the user, how is this practice not illegal?
- jonknee 15y agoApple doesn't prompt the user to ask for permission when the APIs are used (like what happens with location), so this is the desired behavior. It's very simple: https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/AddressBook/Reference/ABPersonRef_iPhoneOS/Reference/reference.html#//apple_ref/c/func/ABAddressBookCopyArrayOfAllPeople https://developer.apple.com/library/ios/#documentation/Addre...
- DrJokepu 15y agoHowever: 17.1 Apps cannot transmit data about a user without obtaining the user's prior permission and providing the user with access to information about how and where the data will be used It's likely that this app will be pulled from the App Store within the next few hours.
- jonknee 15y agoAll that means is that it has to be mentioned in a very long terms of service somewhere. If Apple cared about address book information like they currently do for location data they would make the API query the user.
- Aqua_Geek 15y agoI noticed that Path did this a few weeks ago when I initially installed it. My reaction was much the same: WTF?! I proceeded to file a bug report with Apple that the API should prompt for access just like the Core Location API does (somebody having ALL my contacts' info is more important to me than an app knowing where I currently am). My bug was closed as a duplicate; hopefully a change is in the works.
- alanh 15y agoYep, which makes the address book a hack for (high-latency, obviously) cross-app communication. E.g., last I knew, TextExpander added an entry to your address book with your abbreviations, so that other apps e.g. Simplenote can use those abbreviations as you type. Very well intentioned hack, which shouldn’t be necessary, but is, using an API that really just shouldn’t be open…