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Spotify Sorry For Privacy Update But Can Still Track Your Movements

Spotify Can Track Your Movements, And They're Sorry You're Upset About It
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 20: Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify speaks onstage at Spotify Press Announcement on May 20, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Spotify)
Michael Loccisano via Getty Images
NEW YORK, NY - MAY 20: Daniel Ek, Founder and CEO, Spotify speaks onstage at Spotify Press Announcement on May 20, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for Spotify)

Spotify is apologising for its “invasive” privacy update that gains access into users’ contacts, exact location and photos with permission -- but the policy remains in place.

The music-streaming service last week gave users the option of agreeing to the changes or quitting the service, much to the disgust of privacy experts worldwide.

Australian Spotify users woke up on Saturday to the CEO's apology for any “confusion” the changes may have caused.

Spotify's new privacy update allows the music-streaming service to access personal data.

"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," Daniel Ek posted.

Australian Copyright Agency Limited founder Professor Michael Fraser said consumers were becoming dangerously complacent.

“People have been willing to give up their valuable information too easily to get free or cheap access to a service,” Fraser told The Huffington Post Australia.

“This makes us vulnerable and it’s important to protect ourselves from unfair manipulation.”

Pop culture commentator Paul Verhoeven told HuffPost Australia that Spotify wasn’t the only service sniffing around your data.

“I think what was frightening about this whole thing was a) the very blunt and honest transparency of it all and b) the fact that it reminded us that, oh crap, we've probably already agreed to similarly invasive agreements every time we've blindly hit the agree button on the terms and conditions for an app hundreds of times since we got our phone,” Verhoeven said.

Verhoeven said Spotify's ability to track a user's moving speed could be used to curate the right tempo.

"If you're a devotee of Spotify I don't think all these rules have come out of nowhere.

"I guarantee hundreds of companies have already done the same."

Ek said Spotify would update the phrasing of their privacy policy in coming weeks to "better reflect" the changes.

Some users have already made up their minds.

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