Spotify Defends Self After Privacy Outcry

(MENAFN- Arab Times) Online music streamer Spotify defended itself Friday after angry users accused it of abusive personal data collection by asking for access to their contacts and photos. Earlier this week, the firm had described the changes on its website as an "update" of its general user terms and conditions and its privacy policy, intended "to tailor improved experiences to our users, and build new and personalised products for the future."
Users of the streaming service's application for smartphones and mobile devices will over the next few weeks receive a prompt asking them to agree to the new terms, which include being asked for access to their address books, photos and GPS location.

Cancelled
On Twitter, hundreds of customers complained, many of them linking to articles on tech sites such as Wired that were critical of the move. On Friday, one of the creators of the hugely popular online game Minecraft, Markus Persson of Sweden, told his 2.4 million Twitter followers that he had "cancelled" his Spotify subscription. "As a consumer, I've always loved your service. You're the reason I stopped pirating music. Please consider not being evil," he wrote. Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek responded directly to him: "Have you read our blog? We explicitly will ask when using camera or GPS."

Ek also explained that having access to photos would help users "if you want to personalise a playlist by having a custom image or a new profile pic." Several hours after that exchange, Ek posted a link to a new blogpost entitled "SORRY." "We apologise " We should have done a better job in communicating what these policies mean and how any information you choose to share will - and will not - be used," he wrote. "If you don't want to share this kind of information, you don't have to. We will ask for your express permission before accessing any of this data - and we will only use it for specific purposes that will allow you to customise your Spotify experience," he added.

"We will never scan or import your contacts without your permission" In the future, we may want to give you the ability to find your friends on Spotify by searching for Spotify users in your contacts if you choose to do that." The Swedish group - which claims to have more than 75 million users in 58 countries, including more than 20 million who use its premium paying site - is facing stiff competition from US rival Apple. Apple Music was launched on June 30 in more than 100 countries, after the technology giant realised that music fans would in the future be more likely to choose streaming over downloads.

The Spotify controversy comes amid heightened concerns over internet privacy issues. In one recent example, the extramarital affair-seeker website Ashley Madison was hacked and users' personal information was leaked. Also as part of its new terms and conditions, Spotify said it was banning so-called "payola" playlists, created by users who accept undisclosed money to promote songs for a record label, the Financial Times reported. Spotify CEO Daniel Ek issued a public apology about the company's new privacy policy Friday, writing on the company's blog that the terms had caused "caused a lot of confusion" about the types of data accessed by Spotify, and the ways the company uses and shares this data. "We should have done a better job in communicating what these policies mean," he said.

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LOS ANGELES: Dr Dre has issued a statement to the New York Times apologizing to "the women I've hurt" without specifically acknowledging the reason for the apology. The 50-year-old music mogul says in comments published Friday on the New York Times website that he "deeply regret(s) what I did and know that it has forever impacted all of our lives."

Dre pleaded no contest to criminal battery charges following allegations he violently attacked journalist Dee Barnes in 1991. Barnes published a story online this week about the assault. Other women, including Dre's former girlfriend Michel'le, have also claimed he was violent toward them. Attention on the decades-old charges resurfaced after last week's release of the hit biopic "Straight Outta Compton," which omits mention of the Barnes incident or any allegations of violence against Dre. The film, which tells the origin story of the rap group N.W.A, topped the box office during its opening week and is expected to be No. 1 again this weekend.

Asked why the film doesn't include the Barnes incident, director F. Gary Gray said, "You can make five N.W.A movies with all the information that is out there" We couldn't get everything in." Dre said in his statement that 25 years ago, he was "a young man drinking too much and in over my head with no real structure in my life. However, none of this is an excuse for what I did. I've been married for 19 years and every day I'm working to be a better man for my family, seeking guidance along the way. I'm doing everything I can so I never resemble that man again."

Apple - which became associated with Dre last year when it bought the music company he helped establish, Beats, for $3 billion - issued a companion statement Friday. "Dre has apologized for the mistakes he's made in the past and he's said that he's not the same person that he was 25 years ago," the company statement said. "We believe his sincerity and after working with him for a year and a half, we have every reason to believe that he has changed." Representatives for Dre did not respond to requests for comment Friday.