OS X Mountain Lion Apps Now Ask Permission to Access Contacts

by

Dustin Curtis points out that in the latest developer seed of OS X Mountain Lion, Apple now requires OS X Apps to get explicit permission to access your address book information.

contacts request
The move mirrors recent changes made to iOS which will also ask the user for permission for an App to access their contact data. The change in policy came after it was revealed that some iOS apps were quietly collecting and transmitting customer address book data without their permission.

At the time, Apple issued this statement:

“Apps that collect or transmit a user’s contact data without their prior permission are in violation of our guidelines,” Apple spokesman Tom Neumayr told AllThingsD. “We’re working to make this even better for our customers, and as we have done with location services, any app wishing to access contact data will require explicit user approval in a future software release.”

The policy now appears to extend to OS X Mountain Lion as well as iOS. Users can later manage these permissions in a new "Privacy" tab in System Preferences.

Top Rated Comments

Shrink Avatar
Shrink
122 months ago
Anything that increases my very limited remaining privacy is fine with me.
Score: 25 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tkermit Avatar
tkermit
122 months ago
Shouldn't it say "Allow" instead of "OK" ?
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TheBronx Avatar
TheBronx
122 months ago
Is this really front page worthy?
Yes.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Supermacguy Avatar
Supermacguy
122 months ago
Looks like the Windows permission windows have now invaded OSX.
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Peace Avatar
Peace
122 months ago
This is amazing. I never knew Elgato EyeTV had access to my contacts list and can't think of any reason they would need it.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
koolmagicguy Avatar
koolmagicguy
122 months ago
That's a pretty ugly red symbol. :eek:
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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