Several popular applications were accused of accessing iPhone user contact address books without their knowledge or consent between 2009 and 2012.<\/p>\n
Twitter, Instagram, Yelp and Foursquare are among the companies whose apps were accused of the data breach, and many complaints were made that the practice was a breach of personal privacy. With the number of people affected, the matter was brought to the attention of regulators who found that the social network platform Path<\/em> were liable for breaches, and a huge settlement has been made. The settlement is not a one off – other internet giants have also been in trouble for allegedly invading the privacy of users. Facebook paid a settlement of around \u00a315m after some 124 million Facebook users had their ‘likenesses’\u00a0taken and used in “sponsored stories” for advertisements.<\/p>\n Search engine and technology giants Google paid out around \u00a37m after it was found that Google had allegedly been selling and sharing what users had been searching for on the internet. This kind of information can be very valuable to businesses who need to understand what people are looking for. However, most people would not appreciate their online searches being recorded and sold to businesses without knowledge or consent.\u00a0In this deal, 62 million people were affected and a part of the action.<\/p>\n People who use iPhones or the iOS system on any of their devices may hold valuable information in their contacts list. Whilst this may not seem like much, companies and businesses are constantly trying to obtain more information from consumers – to see what they like, what they want, and who they interact with.<\/p>\n The complete list of companies involved in this settlement are:<\/p>\n
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\nThe 8 companies involved are set to pay \u00a34.1m for reportedly violating user privacy. The allegations of “unconscionable, illegal practices” were brought along expectations that each affected user would be able to recover at least around \u00a380.00. However, the \u00a34.1m settlement may well be spread thinly across some 7 million members of an ongoing litigation group.<\/p>\nNot the first time…<\/h2>\n
Valuable contact lists<\/h3>\n