Twitter apologizes for squirreling away iPhone user data
(Read article summary)Twitter has agreed to amend its privacy guidelines, after facing criticism over a mobile functionality called Find Friends.
Twitter has acknowledged that it stores user data – including info from contact lists and address books – on its servers, sometimes for months at a time.
At issue is a mobile feature called Find Friends, which allows smartphone users to locate real-life friends on Twitter. Results are produced by giving Twitter permission to churn through the contacts on your phone. So far, so good.
But after critics raised questions about the functionality, Twitter confirmed that the data was not immediately erased – instead, all of it, including phone numbers and email addresses, remained on Twitter servers for up to 18 months.
In a statement, Twitter has promised more clarity on existing privacy policies.
"We want to be clear and transparent in our communications with users," a Twitter spokesperson told the LA Times. "Along those lines, in our next app updates, which are coming soon, we are updating the language associated with Find Friends – to be more explicit. In place of 'Scan your contacts,' we will use 'Upload your contacts' and 'Import your contacts' (in Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android, respectively)."
But that promise wasn't quite enough for Privacy International, a non-profit based in the UK.
