House Dems want answers from Apple on Path privacy breach

{mosads}The lawmakers note other claims that many app developers for Apple’s iOS platform download users’ entire address books without their permission, and send the data to remote servers for future reference.

“The fact that the previous version of Path was able to gain approval for distribution through the Apple iTunes Store despite taking the contents of users’ address books without their permission suggests that there could be some truth to these claims,” the letter states.

The lawmakers ask Apple to describes the guidelines in place for apps regarding the privacy and security of data, as well as how many apps transmit information from the address book with or without asking for consent. They request answers no later than Feb. 29.