After social network Path was caught red-handed for copying personal data from people’s iPhones, CEO Dave Morin apologized for the major screw up and moved on. But before the apology came, Morin was reportedly dragged into Apple CEO Tim Cook’s office and “grilled” over the infraction.
Path’s misstep was criticised by industry watchers and led to the revelation that many apps did the same thing Path was caught doing. Before the Path flare up, popular iOS apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare, Foodspotting, and Yelp were also sending private data to their servers, mostly without getting consent first. But since Path was first, it will be remembered best for the incident.
The story about Morin and Cook comes from BusinessWeek, which has written about Apple’s struggle to control the 600,000+ apps in the App Store. Anonymous sources told BusinessWeeks that Morin “got hauled into Apple’s headquarters to be grilled by Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook and other executives.”
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Apple is known for the control it exerts on its products, and we’re sure the company was upset that Path (and many other apps) were violating its Terms of Service.
Path was allowed to keep its app in the App Store after creating a prompt that makes a user give permission to use personal data. It has recently launched version 2.1 of its app, which inches the app closer to having an open API.
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