Oh Ek, Spotify admits privacy gaffe

Spotify founder and chief executive Daniel Ek has been forced to issue a grovelling apology following a major backlash against the company’s new privacy policy.
The issue, which came to light over the weekend, was sparked by the new policy which appeared to claim the music streaming service was going to collect personal data – including contacts, photos and other media files – willy-nilly and flog it to advertisers.
It stated: “With your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files. Local law may require that you seek the consent of your contacts to provide their personal information to Spotify, which may use that information for the purposes specified in this Privacy Policy.”
The ensuing outcry forced Ek to release a blog post titled “Sorry”. He stated “Let me be crystal clear here: If you don’t want to share this kind of information, you don’t have to.”
He added: “In the future, we may want to give you the ability to find your friends on Spotify by searching for Spotify users in your contacts if you choose to do that.”
Ek then explained that photos will not be accessed without “explicit permission”, and that there will be no scanning or importing of a user’s photo albums or camera roll.
If users agree, the function will enable them to use customising features such as adding personal cover art to a playlist, he said.
Whether this will be enough to appease those threatening to defect to rivals is another matter, but one thing is does show is that consumers are becoming much more savvy when it comes to their personal data.