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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

#261

Post by signalsignal »

bitcartel wrote: post #107
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?

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…

Two words: Government Regulation.

Once Congress puts a bill forward to deal with this issue, it will be the beginning of the end for this type of behavior. I'm sure Obama will get behind it as well, as it will help the computer market immensely.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#262

Post by mynameisvlad »

ajanuary wrote: post #137

From http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/30/4286090/path-is-spamming-a... it sounds like it's a result of "finding your friends" actually texting invites to friends, and then text messages being put in a queue so they're getting sent out even after the app is deleted. Obviously such an action should be more clearly labelled. If it was, could they whitelist the times it sends out text messages to not do it at 6am? How easy…

You can do it based on country code, and, if you want, NANP for North American numbers. That would get you a time zone (or range) and you can easily use that to not spam people at 6am.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#263

Post by rozap »

SurfScore wrote: post #195

Is this only a problem on Android phones? The screenshot he shows of the text is clearly Android. I would wonder how this would be possible on a non-jailbroken iOS device if Path wasn't left running all night.

I don't see any reports from iOS folks about this happening. It's definitely against the Android Play store TOS, though.

The Play store definitely has a more laissez fair approach to apps, but spamming like this is pretty a pretty blatant violation. Google might want to consider suspending their app.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#264

Post by smsm42 »

darxius wrote: post #222
smsm42 wrote: post #210

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So in Canada, software engineers never cause harm to anyone? Nice to know. >>>> I think we do need a set of rules we can dogmatically follow like the Hippocratic Oath. So you don't actually have to employ your own brain and your own moral judgement, because somebody already did it for you and wrote this nice set of rules, that you swore by Apollo to faithfully execute, without thinking, not unlike that box of wires a…

I think you're missing the point. The oath is to remind you to use your head, your best judgement and a body of ethics and to act in the interest of the public. Sure engineers still make mistakes, but the code of ethics isn't some magical document that eliminated human error. Also, I think you're sort of merging the HO with the Code of Ethics for engineers in Canada -- two very different documents and I suggest you g…

>>>> The oath is to remind you to use your head, your best judgement and a body of ethics

Why you need an oath for that - shouldn't it be always the default behavior?

>>>> and to act in the interest of the public.

"Interest of the public" is a very dangerous thing. I can remember a lot of very bad things that were done "in the interest of the public". You can make almost anything pass as "in the interest of the public" if you want to. Murder? Millions were murdered "in the interest of the public", because they were of the wrong ethnicity, class, physical features or just in the wrong place in the wrong time. Robbery? Millions were stripped of their property and reduced to utter poverty because it was claimed it is "interest of the public" to do so. And so on, and so forth.

I would rather steer clear of anything that has "interest of the public" written on it, at least until it's very clear what is underneath. Too many things that were underneath such writing proved to be a disaster.

>>> no one still thinks they're swearing to Apollo.

Swearing to a document composed by a faceless bureaucracy is no better. If you have code of ethics, live by it, if you do not - get one. What Apollo or his modern equivalent, the almighty bureaucracy, has to do with it?

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#265

Post by __david__ »

taude wrote: post #38
DanI-S wrote: post #20

FYI, you can deactivate your Path account by visiting their website ( https://path.com/ ), signing in and clicking 'Deactivate' on the 'Settings' page.

Notice that is says "Deactivating your account will remove your content from Path. If you reactivate your account, your content will come back." Not deleting your content, though. I hate that.

> Not deleting your content, though. I hate that.

Why? Having worked on a semi social app last year, deleting a user and all their content was a huge undertaking. Marking them and their content as deleted was simple and had the exact same effect--user and content never get returned from DB queries. Guess which one we implemented?

I guess I'm trying to say sites don't (always) do the deactivate thing because of some nefarious scheme to steal your content/identity at a later date. Sometimes it's just a technical call (or lazy programmers, depending on your point of view).

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#266

Post by mseebach »

untog wrote: post #226
rdl wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turning off the ringer on your phone is totally legit, though. I don't believe in interrupt-driven communication, unless it's mediated through a machine or some kind of filter. (I'll let a machine notify me if lots of stuff is down, or if one of a very small number of people call me, but that's about it. IIRC, pg's call went to voicemail a couple years ago.

Turning off the ringer on your phone is totally legit, though. It is, but his stated reason for doing so is nothing if not totally insane.

Especially in context, the phrasing is ridiculous, but semantically it no different from "I refused to be bossed around by my phone".

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#267

Post by tripzilch »

mjolk wrote: post #230
darxius wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I disagree. As a computer engineer in Canada, I must swear by the Code of Ethics because what I do (or potentially don't do) can cause harm. Ethics in computer-science-related fields are important and I think we do need a set of rules we can dogmatically follow like the Hippocratic Oath. Of course, the HO is different in that failing to follow can cause physical harm. However, the world is progressing quickly and mor…

>I think it's our jobs to make sure we don't promote poor practice and un-ethical behaviour. No, it's our responsibility as decent people. I don't need to sign some online pledge to keep myself from pushing people in front of trains. If I was the sort to harm others, why would I care about some meaningless online campaign?

> I don't need to sign some online pledge to keep myself from pushing people in front of trains.

Neither do doctors really need the Oath of Hippocrates to stop themselves from harming people.

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#268

Post by Shish2k »

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

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/8284...

Re: Path texts my entire phonebook at 6 AM

#269

Post by untog »

mseebach wrote: post #266
untog wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turning off the ringer on your phone is totally legit, though. It is, but his stated reason for doing so is nothing if not totally insane.

Especially in context, the phrasing is ridiculous, but semantically it no different from "I refused to be bossed around by my phone".

Refusing to be bossed around by an inanimate object still seems somewhat ridiculous to me.
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