6 ms·
That's not a PR move, that's what you do while crossing your fingers that state attorney generals and the FTC doesn't come after you.
by AJ007 15y ago
That's not a PR move, that's what you do while crossing your fingers that state attorney generals and the FTC doesn't come after you.
- mishmash 15y agoI've just: 1) saved their Privacy Policy and Terms of Use 2) requested a complete deletion of our family's account 3) requested deletion of any/all stored information 4) considering contacting our lawyer As I emailed to Path's support, our 3-4 year old children's schools, bus companies, physicians, pharmacies and our family lawyer were in that contact list - that's an insane, willful, and quite unexpected violation of our privacy. Worse, it could have easily been solved by adding an entry to their Privacy Policy (under the "What Personal Information Do We Collect?" section) and/or a simple dialog prompt. Unbelievable.
- damptrousers 15y agoLawyer? God, get a fucking grip. No wonder companies treat their users like morons.
- mishmash 15y agoBecause asking for advice from those wiser than oneself clearly makes one a moron.
- rokhayakebe 15y agoconsidering contacting our lawyer What do you expect to achieve with this step?
- guywithabike 15y agoTo get his money back, of course.
- mishmash 15y agoTo get perspective, actually. Most lawyers are wicked smart and it sucks you aren't in a position to have such a valuable resource available in your own life. HTH.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- ryanwaggoner 15y agoAs I emailed to Path's support, our 3-4 year old children's schools, bus companies, physicians, pharmacies and our family lawyer were in that contact list Ok, I'm going to pick on you for a second. Hold the downvotes everyone! Let me explain. This seems like a bit of a knee-jerk reaction akin to "think of the children!" or the whole child porn scare-mongering that politicians engage in that we on HN are always criticizing. I recognize that Path screwed up, big-time, but I'm unclear on why them having the information you cited, along with dozens or hundreds of other contacts from your address book, for millions of users, constitutes some kind of terrible threat to your children. I mean, their schools, their bus companies? How is that even remotely useful information to anyone? I think there's plenty to criticize here from just the high-level perspective of "they used my contacts without my permission", without use the children scare-mongering tactic. But maybe there's a specific threat in mind that I'm not thinking of? Anyway, just thought your response was a little over the top, and more informed by emotion than reason. Ok, now everyone can downvote :)
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- mishmash 15y agoOne of my kids has special needs. This means he rides a certain bus and goes to a certain school. It would be trivial to uniquely identify him for the rest of his LIFE with only the information contained in my contacts list. So now, without consent, this "private" "friends and family"-based app I installed on my phone, plus it's company, plus any other company they choose to do business with, or any entity that acquires them in perpetuity, or any data mining, social profiling, credit bureau, can start building far-reaching and long-lasting profiles of a four year old little boy that needs a extra help. What part of that confuses you? p.s. this could have been avoided with a dozen lines of code via a dialog box.
- toadi 15y agoActually there is a simple solution for your problem. Don't use social apps. Especially not if they are free! Do you also buy snake oil if it comes with a document using lots of difficult sounding words but ends saying it cures everything?
- toadi 15y agoSeems to be an ad misericordiam argument. It's bad they share private information of people in your contact list without your or their permission. But adding children in the mix is just used to add effect to your argument. Don't really like this kind of argumentation.
- droithomme 15y agoYes, good point. And regarding state attorney generals, how is this not data theft? It seems to go far beyond privacy issues, the program is in every way that matters a trojan that steals personal data. I can't see how it could not be considered so given the details of what was discovered.
- bigiain 15y agoIf I were an evil-state-attorney-general, I'd be calling up Path and saying "Here's a list of names (unsaid - of suspected drug dealers), please forward all of their details and contacts, and the details and contacts of anyone who lists them as a contact. Thanks"
- hessenwolf 15y agoYeah - or I hire a private eye to spy on my wife and he pays off a path DBA. Don't people always complain on HN that they don't get enough kaching?