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Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

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Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#181

Post by schabernakk »

HNaTTY wrote: post #173
schabernakk wrote: post #135

I was considering joining path with 4, 5 of my closest friends to have some kind of 'private facebook'. I don't really like sharing stuff on twitter/facebook so path seemed like a good alternative to share stuff with people i definately know will be interested. After reading this I don't think I will join anytime soon. I don't really get the reasoning behind this. Path is marketed for the use case I had in mind. Shar…

Internet Relay Chat (I'm into simple solutions)

I really like using email for staying in touch, also works with groups.

But besides the fact that my friends aren't really into the whole tech thing (lot of them are still using their old non-smartphone) Inlining videos, photos and threading conversations is something I really like for such a software to have.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#182

Post by gjm11 »

mjolk wrote: post #142
bitcartel wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to nip this in the bud. Maybe it's time to create a Hippocratic Oath for developers to publicly commit to? A future Path developer could then refuse to implement an unethical "feature" by pointing out that the company had hired them with the full knowledge that the oath had been undertaken. I don't think the company would pink slip the developer, as they would probably want to avoid any attention being drawn…

>Maybe it's time to create a Hippocratic Oath for developers to publicly commit to? This is silly. Stop trying to add grandeur to writing some code at X,Y startup/company. People don't die or get harmed when some social-messaging application spams someone. Code is a way to implement an idea. Most applications exist to make money. If this a shock to you, read the user agreement before installing/upgrading, uninstall t…

> People don't die or get harmed when some social-messaging application spams someone.

Of course they get harmed: their time is wasted, and perhaps their concentration disturbed. This is a small harm to each victim, no doubt about it, but if you write code that makes your social-messaging application spam people then you're delivering that small harm to a large number of people. If your code wastes 10 seconds each, just once, for a million people, that's about three person-months of aggregate time you've stolen that will never come back.

It's quite true that "in social networking, your personal data what the company uses to make a profit". But if it were near-universal practice for new software engineers to swear a solemn oath not to use their powers for evil, who knows? perhaps some other business model for social networking might have had a chance to succeed.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#183

Post by jrs235 »

crazygringo wrote: post #34

How about another detail -- the fact that the message said the user had photos to share, when he didn't? There's annoying spam, and then there's straight-out-lying spam -- the "x has sent you a message, you need to create an account to view it" type. Just curious, is there a way to sue/fine a company like this for false advertising, essentially?

Fine you say? Here's an earlier HN submission pertaining to just that: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5630449

UPDATE: That appears to be related to collecting info on minors. Looks like they need to be fined again for this.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#184

Post by joelhaasnoot »

crazygringo wrote: post #34

How about another detail -- the fact that the message said the user had photos to share, when he didn't? There's annoying spam, and then there's straight-out-lying spam -- the "x has sent you a message, you need to create an account to view it" type. Just curious, is there a way to sue/fine a company like this for false advertising, essentially?

Facebook does that exact thing by the way - my boss came back from a week of vacation and wondered how I found him on Facebook. Facebook had sent each one of us in the office a link, that he didn't know about. Anytime you send email as a user - it needs to be very explicit.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#185

Post by eurleif »

tlogan wrote: post #133
eropple wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I really cannot blame them Shitty behavior does not stop being shitty behavior because you have bills to pay. And it's not even in the "understandable under duress" area of shitty; Path isn't a person with a starving child and that dude's contact list isn't a loaf of bread. If your company can't exist without being shitty, your company shouldn't exist.

I completely agree with you on "If your company can't exist without being shitty, your company shouldn't exist.". However, here in VC-stanm the behavior like this is considered "hacking the growth" and something which is not considered a bad thing. So unfortunately, you cannot play the game here (ok, you can play but no big money will bet on you) if you not ready to do things like this.

If this sort of behavior is really being pushed by investors, it kind of makes one wonder about the corporate veil shielding investors from liability.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#186

Post by pullo »

mjolk wrote: post #148
criley wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Publicity. He writes a blog "Path fired me for not breaking the oath" and then communities like this one will rally around that whistle-blower.

Yeah, that negative publicity around Foxconn's workplace conditions really tanked Apple.

The goal was not to tank apple, but to improve the working conditions at the factory floor and transparency on apple's part. Apple' supply chain is much more transparent after the noise. On another note, our outrage/disagreement cannot be outcome based. We hope the bad publicity will change things. many times it does not.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#187

Post by HNaTTY »

cloudwalking wrote: post #151

Let's not jump to conclusions too quickly. This was probably (hopefully) a bug.

From theverge's article (above this post currently)

"Path is really best with friends and we really want to help users invite the people that they care about to their Path as quickly as possible," said Nate Johnson, VP of marketing for Path. Johnson said the Path customer service team has reached out to Kenwright, but right now it looks like nothing went wrong with the app.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#188

Post by bentcorner »

cloudwalking wrote: post #151

Let's not jump to conclusions too quickly. This was probably (hopefully) a bug.

The whole feature seems like a bug. Even under the best of conditions who would want to text their entire address book that they had photos to share? It's (IMO) socially obnoxious behavior and should be made difficult to do.

Maybe I'm not in the target demographic, but I'm guessing that most people have a mix of contacts in their contact list that conform to different social situations. Not all of them would care to know I had photos to share.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#189

Post by nollidge »

mjolk wrote: post #142
bitcartel wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We need to nip this in the bud. Maybe it's time to create a Hippocratic Oath for developers to publicly commit to? A future Path developer could then refuse to implement an unethical "feature" by pointing out that the company had hired them with the full knowledge that the oath had been undertaken. I don't think the company would pink slip the developer, as they would probably want to avoid any attention being drawn…

>Maybe it's time to create a Hippocratic Oath for developers to publicly commit to? This is silly. Stop trying to add grandeur to writing some code at X,Y startup/company. People don't die or get harmed when some social-messaging application spams someone. Code is a way to implement an idea. Most applications exist to make money. If this a shock to you, read the user agreement before installing/upgrading, uninstall t…

Of course people get harmed. The harm just has vastly less depth and vastly more breadth.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#190

Post by mcintyre1994 »

VLM wrote: post #115
sandaru1 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Android doesn't ask for user's permission before accessing the address book, is it?

This doesn't sound very difficult to verify. Go to play.google.com. Search for path. First result in the app store. Click on Permissions. "This application has access to the following: ... blah blah blah ... This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation. ... blah blah blah ... read your contacts Allows the app to read data about your contacts stored on your tablet ... blah bla…

Read data about contacts doesn't sound unreasonable for an app like Path though. Facebook uses that permission to sync contacts if you want, and I don't see any problem with that. Unfortunately, reading data means they can store it, off device, independently of the install state. That's a difficult problem to solve, but I don't think users should be expected to expect this as a result of that permission.
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