Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) is asking the Federal Trade Commission to investigate Apple and Google, charging that both steal users’ private contacts and photos without users’ consent.
Schumer, whose plea was prompted by recent reports that both Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms accessed such data, lobbed a letter to the FTC, asking it to intervene.
“These uses go well beyond what a reasonable user understands himself to be consenting to when he allows an app to access data on the phone for purposes of the app’s functionality,” Schumer wrote in the letter.
“When someone takes a private photo, on a private cell phone, it should remain just that: private.”
Such usage violates both Apple’s and Google’s terms of service, Schumer argues. Neither Apple nor Google could be reached for comment.
The request comes as Google is already undergoing an FTC investigation over various issues, including privacy. In a press release explaining the move, Schumer noted that the inclusion of Google and Android came after a New York Times story explained how apps on Android can access users’ photos and copy them on a remote server. That report surfaced after another Times story outlined how app makers using Apple’s iOS could also access photos, which followed reports that an iOS security hole let app developers download users’ contact lists.
“It sends shivers up the spine to think that one’s personal photos, address book, and who-knows-what-else can be obtained and even posted online – without consent,” Schumer wrote. “If the technology exists to open the door to this kind of privacy invasion, then surely technology exists to close it, and that’s exactly what must happen.”
What do you think? Should the FTC step in on this issue? Sound off in the comments.
Image courtesy of Flickr, david_shankbone
Source: Mashable
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