Apple ends apps’ ability to sell your contacts list

Apple’s recently updated policy for developers on its App Store now prohibits apps from selling information collected from your address book to other people.

The changes, first reported by Bloomberg News, prohibit apps from using Apple’s address book or photos to “build a contact database for your own use or for sale/distribution to third parties.”

Violating Apple’s guidelines can prompt the company to remove an app from its store. It’s not clear how many applications would need to change their behaviour because of the new policy.

Apple’s new rules address a problem that many technology platforms face. Collecting and selling information that’s unrelated to an app’s purpose is a known money-making tactic for unscrupulous apps.

Contact list data can be particularly valuable for companies because it allows them to gather information not only on the person who is using the app, but also about all of their friends. That extends the reach of their data collection. Address books can include the names, addresses, email addresses, pictures and birthdays of friends and family.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has been outspoken on the need for privacy protections for many years, often putting his company at philosophical odds with Facebook, Google and other firms that collect and sell personal data.