GigaOM Pro

The social networking app Path is making unwanted headlines this morning after a developer discovered it surreptitiously uploads users’ contact information to the company’s servers. This isn’t exactly unprecedented, of course — Hipster was recently found to be doing something similar — and Path’s CEO quickly claimed the data is used only to make it easier for users to find friends and family. “Nothing more.” I don’t have any reason to doubt that claim — not yet, at least — but what Path is doing with that information is less important than the fact that it’s quietly gleaning it in the first place. That’s why my colleague Mathew Ingram is absolutely right when he urges app developers to tell users everything rather than having to put out fires when it’s eventually discovered.