Update – Spotify’s CEO has since offered an apology and has promised to clarify the contents of the privacy policy.
You know all those legalese that you usually click “Agree” without reading? Turns out Spotify has a new privacy policy in place and this is one that you definitely want to check out as it seems that it has upset many of its users. Basically for a music streaming service, it seems that the new policy is asking to learn a lot more about you in ways that might not make sense.
According to a report from Wired who broke it down, this involves collecting media from your device, which we can only assume will be videos and photos, as well as your contacts. “With your permission, we may collect information stored on your mobile device, such as contacts, photos, or media files.”
As Wired points out it is unclear as to why the company would need such information from you in the first place. Another part of the policy reads that it wants to collect information such as your location along with sensor data, like whether you are running or walking. It also seems that opting out of these practices is not possible, unless you don’t mind not using the service.
According to Spotify, “If you don’t agree with the terms of this Privacy Policy, then please don’t use the Service.” Like we said this has upset many users, but according to Spotify, this updated was policy was done to be as transparent as possible about their practices. “We want to be as open and transparent as possible when it comes to how we describe our business, how we work with advertisers, what information we collect, and what we do with it.”
We suppose that’s fair, but at the same time we don’t have to be too happy about it, but what say you? Is the updated privacy policy a little more invasive than you’d like?