Like maths exams and immigration, ‘terms & conditions’ are one of those staples of modern life that people often complain about without really understanding.
That’s why Spotify’s CEO has felt compelled to apologise after the internet went absolutely mental over the music streaming service’s new privacy policy.
Over the past 24 hours, the web has been ablaze with complaints that the new terms and conditions are far too intrusive.
As a consequence of this short-lived furore, a blog post titled “SORRY.” sees the company’s CEO Daniel Ek write:
“We are in the middle of rolling out new terms and conditions and privacy policy and they’ve caused a lot of confusion about what kind of information we access and what we do with it. We apologise for that.”
He continues: “
In fairness, Spotify’s privacy policy did say some pretty scary stuff, at least at a glance.
Take, for instance, this delightful excerpt:
“With your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files.”
Ek, of course, hopes users will see reason, and confirms what we already knew – that nothing nefarious will actually happen with your data.
“We will never access your photos without explicit permission and we will never scan or import your photo library or camera roll,” explains Ek. “We will never access your microphone without your permission. We will never scan or import your contacts without your permission.”
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All of the permissions referenced in the policy relate to commonly used features of the app, like location-based music recommendations, setting profile pictures, and sharing songs with friends.
However, this latest permission calamity does give a clear warning to businesses. It’s important that privacy policies aren’t too vague, or you’ll earn distrust of your user-base.
It’s also important that users remain savvy to what they’re signing up to on the internet.
After all, Ashley Madison’s users thought they were safe, and we all know what happened there.
Do you think Ek was right to apologise over the unnecessarily ambiguous privacy policy, or have we all kicked up a fuss over nothing? Tell us your thoughts in the comments.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.