Apple Inc on Wednesday said application developers would have to get express permission from users before tapping into contact information stored in its popular gadgets, in a move to address privacy concerns.
The maker of iPhones, iPads and iPods made its position clear after two US lawmakers asked the California-based company whether apps running on the company’s devices might be accessing private data without asking users.
“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr said in an e-mail. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”
US representatives Henry Waxman and G.K. Butterfield sent a letter to Apple chief executive Tim Cook following reports that social networking app Path collected and stored address book information without explicitly asking for a user’s consent.
“This incident raises questions about whether Apple’s iOS app developer policies and practices may fall short when it comes to protecting the information of iPhone users and their contacts,” they said.
In a blog post last week, Path co-founder and chief executive David Morin apologized for uploading users’ address book information without asking for permission.
“We made a mistake,” Morin said. “We are deeply sorry if you were uncomfortable with how our application used your phone contacts.”
Path released updated applications modified to ask users whether they would like to opt in or out of letting the service use personal contact lists to help them connect with friends or family at the social network.
Apple shares, which soared past the US$500 mark on Monday, lost 2.31 percent on Wednesday to close at US$497.67.
Separately, Google Inc on Wednesday assured users of its smartphone wallets that the mobile-age technology thwarts thieves better than old-school cash or credit cards.
“Mobile payments are going to become more common in the coming years and we will learn much more as we continue to develop Google Wallet,” Google payments vice president Osama Bedier said in a blog post. “In the meantime, you can be confident that the digital wallet you carry provides defenses that plastic and leather simply don’t.”
A Google Wallet feature that lets people load prepaid card information in smartphones for spending was re-activated this week after being shut off for a few days to fix a potential security vulnerability.
“While we’re not aware of any abuse of prepaid cards or the Wallet PIN resulting from these recent reports, we took this step as a precaution to ensure the security of our Wallet customers,” Bedier said.
The action from Google came after a Zvelo Labs researcher demonstrated software that quickly figures out a Wallet PIN, provided the crook has the smartphone.
The researcher dismissed the threat of hackers picking Google Wallets remotely, saying that physical access is needed to get priority access to controls in a process kn ow as “rooting.”
Security specialists advise Google Wallet users to enable security features such as full-disk encryption and screen locks.
Google Wallet is available only on the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus smartphones, which Google developed with Samsung Electronics Co. Google plans to expand the feature to more Android phones.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
Memory chip stocks extended their losses yesterday after Alphabet Inc’s Google publicized research that could allow more efficient use of the storage needed for artificial intelligence (AI) development. SK Hynix Inc and Samsung Electronics Co, South Korean leaders in the market, fell more than 6 percent and about 5 percent respectively in Seoul. In the US, Micron Technology Inc, Western Digital Corp and Sandisk Corp slid more than 2 percent in pre-market trading, after they all closed lower on Wednesday. Memory companies have been on a tear in recent months as the rapid development of AI infrastructure triggered a spike in chip
RSS