On the one hand, it’s growing increasingly common for big tech companies to be accused of misusing data, to the point where we’ve almost become numb to the practice. For example, it’s hard to not have an inkling that out of the many millions of users who hand over information to Facebook every day, some of the data is being used for not-so-savoury purposes. Modern connectivity has made information sharing so commonplace that we take it for granted.
On the other hand, information theft and blatant user exploitation is still a serious issue, and it’s the reason that photo-sharing app Snapchat have found themselves in hot water.
The Rise of Snapchat
It was a new type of software to begin with, as the app allowed users to send temporary photos, videos and messages- called ‘snaps’- which are supposedly deleted from existence after a few seconds (provided the receiver isn’t savvy enough to take a screenshot- and only with an operating system prior to iOS 7). The app was built using Google App Engine, a rarity in the application world dominated by Amazon-fuelled startups.
While not intrinsically linked to Google, Snapchat nevertheless uses Google cloud services and has done so for its entire existence. It has thoroughly beaten a number of copycat apps, including Facebook’s ill-fated ‘Poke’, and now supposedly allows users to send 700-million snaps per day. That’s a lot of information being passed around, which is why its privacy terms were among some of the most stringent.
Violating Privacy
Sadly, Snapchat didn’t seem to follow its own rules. The snaps sent by millions of users might have vanished of the intended recipients’ devices, but Snapchat was found to have been storing private photos and videos in a violation of its privacy rules. Charges laid by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) mostly focused on this particular violation, though other charges levelled against Snapchat include:
- Storing video snaps in a separate location
- Misrepresentation of data collection practices
- Collection of user data without consent. Users were told that email, phone numbers and Facebook ID would be used, but the app also gleaned names and contact phone numbers, outside its privacy agreement.
- An insecure ‘Find Friends’ feature that allowed attackers to enter the system and steal sensitive data from 4.6 million users.
The crux of the matter is that Snapchat promised that its users’ sent photos, videos and messages would disappear; in fact, it’s the main hook of the app. Barring a crafty screenshot, your messages vanish within a matter of seconds. It was certainly an innovative idea from the get-go, and one that helped the app reach its current level of popularity. This made the revelation of the fact that Snapchat was saving sent photos and videos even worse, and somewhat ironic.
Outside users claimed to be able to access photos and videos after they were sent by connecting their devices to a computer. The files could be found lurking within the directory, proving that they weren’t really gone. Saving of the files by third-party applications and cloud storage security issues were also points raised by the FTC, and efforts implemented by Snapchat itself to prevent screenshots were found to be inadequate.
Failing to Protect User Data
Snapchat’s performance in the area of privacy in general hasn’t been stellar, as noted in the aforementioned charge brought against them for failing to protect sensitive information from hackers. An annual survey by the Electronics Frontier Foundation found that the photo-sharing app received only a single star out of six for its performance in protecting data, notable in a list that contains companies often accused of playing fast and loose with data such as Facebook and Twitter (both scored a solid six stars). Snapchat may have slipped under the radar due to being perceived as a harmless photo app, but 700-million snaps per day can’t be ignored. That’s a huge ton of private data that not only isn’t vanishing when it should be, it’s also being held by a company with a poor reputation for protecting their users. Given that privacy was the keystone of Snapchat’s entire modus operandi, it’s unacceptable for them to renege on their promise.
A settlement has been reached between Snapchat and the FTC, which involves the app being to implement a privacy program that will be monitored for the next 20 years by a privacy expert. Snapchat neither defended themselves against the charges nor denied them, and the settlement was non-financial.
However, it has raised serious questions about how truly private information sharing can really be when the Internet is involved. It could very well be that Snapchat’s aspiration to create a transient system of vanishing messages was an impossible venture from the start.
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This post was written by David Kovacs who is a young entrepreneur and a marketing enthusiast from Hungary and loves to share his thoughts and articles on various channels in topics related to marketing and business.
* The views expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Business Insider.
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