The social network that promises a more intimate circle of friends, Path, has settled with the Federal Trade Commission to the tune of $800K for illegally collecting private data from children. Creepy enough yet?
The Path app used an all too familiar “Add Friends” feature that asked users to invite their friends via Facebook, email, or SMS; unlike other apps, Path allegedly would collect data from users’ contacts whether or not they used the feature. That’s a big no-no according to the FTC.
The FTC’s decision to fine Path the nearly million dollar settlement based on app’s collection of private data from over 3,000 children under the age of 13 without their parent’s permission (Editor’s Note: I always thought no one ever checked that when I’d hear it on TV).
According to the report in FastCompany, the FTC appears to be readying an expansion of these types of inquiries into data collection. The FTC has already called out tech titans like Apple, Google, BlackBerry and Amazon for what they feel are too lax-ed or unclear data collection practices.
It should be no surprise that government agencies are taking a much more visible interest in the information we’re prone to willingly display and distribute as we become and even more plugged-in society; hopefully this will result in making data collection a more transparent thing.
Source: FastCompany
