What's wrong with Clubhouse accessing contacts on your smartphone to encourage invitations?
The voice-based invitation-only SNS '
Clubhouse Is Suggesting Users Invite Their Drug Dealers and Therapists | by Will Oremus | Feb, 2021 | OneZero
https://onezero.medium.com/clubhouse-is-suggesting-users-invite-their-drug-dealers-and-therapists-a8161b3062fc
Clubhouse asks first-time users for permission to 'app access contacts on their smartphones.' Users can also tap 'Don't Allow', but in that case new users will not be able to be invited to the Clubhouse.
If you allow access to your contacts, Clubhouse will look for a phone number in your address book that is not associated with your Clubhouse user's account and will prompt you to invite them to Clubhouse. Also, if you are contacted by the phone number included in the contact information, you will be prompted to invite by push notification.
'It's ethically dangerous to allow access to your contacts, even if it's a trusted app,' OneZero said. Not only do contacts include close friends, but they also have data on old acquaintances, colleagues, bosses, doctors, lovers who have already broke up, and the journalist's smartphone diverts sensitive information. Information sources may also be registered. If you allow the app to access your contacts, you're telling the app information that you don't want others to know.
In addition, some apps use this kind of information to create 'profiles of people who are not using the app.' For example, if the contact of the user 'A' has the information of the person 'C' who is not using the app, and the contact of the user 'B' also has the information of 'C', the app will be 'B. You can create a profile that says 'A person is acquainted with' A 'and' C '.' This is called a '
It's unclear if Clubhouse has created a shadow profile, but Clubhouse uses contact information in at least two ways. The first is to 'invite new Clubhouse users to conversations with existing users in your contacts.' The second is 'showing how well people who haven't been invited to Clubhouse are connected to Clubhouse users.'
The image below shows a Clubhouse user trying to invite someone else. Next to contacts that don't have a Clubhouse account yet, you'll see 'Number of friends participating in Clubhouse' so you can see at a glance how much they're connected to Clubhouse users. I will.
This feature is probably to make you think, 'Invite people you know a lot in the Clubhouse.' However, it is clear that Clubhouse has not obtained any consent from the people on the list, and the problem is that the list of people who are not Clubhouse users is created arbitrarily. Regarding 'people who have many friends of Clubhouse users but have not joined Clubhouse' at the top of the list, 'I have already received invitations from many people but declined the invitation.' ', Or' in fact, it has been avoided and no one has invited it. '
In the case of One Zero writer Will Oremus, the two contacts at the top of the list were restaurants, not people. The psychiatrist who prescribed the drug for ADHD to Oremus also found that he had '62 friends in the Clubhouse,' and said that this information might be in the Clubhouse database. .. On Twitter etc., you can also see reports that 'I was prompted to invite relatives who have already died' and 'The number of people who are connected to the seller in the app because the drug seller is included in the invitation list' There is also a report saying.
Clubhouse does not publish detailed policies regarding the handling of contact data, but may be handed a list of people with 'specific criminal suspects or dissidents' contacts at the request of law enforcement agencies. One Zero pointed out that there is also sex.
Although Clubhouse is concerned about security issues in this way, it has been pointed out that misinformation and conspiracy theories are likely to spread because it is difficult to moderate voice communication. Bloomberg, a foreign media outlet, reports that black doctors are refuting at the Clubhouse to deal with the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19) and vaccine misinformation exchanged on the Clubhouse.
Black Doctors Work Overtime to Combat Clubhouse Covid Myths --Bloomberg
At the same time as the popularity of Clubhouse among black people is increasing, black doctors are dealing with it with a sense of mission in response to the rapid spread of false information on COVID-19 and vaccines in the application. .. Of course, the explanation in the app is unpaid, and even if you try to persuade it, you will not be able to hear it, and you may be accused of being 'hired by the government to promote the vaccine'.
Still, it seems that constructive conversations are often realized within the app, and Dr. Daniel Fagbuyi, who works to eliminate misinformation at Clubhouse, feels a certain response. In fact, Patrice Withers-Stephens, who lives in Dallas, Texas, was hesitant to vaccinate because he was worried that the vaccine would be developed too quickly, but he was worried about talking to a doctor in the Clubhouse. Is resolved.
'I'm a black woman, so I wanted to hear from a black doctor,' said Withers-Stephens, who was curious about clinical trials and vaccine ingredients in the Clubhouse. He said he was able to ask a question. After a conversation at the Clubhouse, Withers-Stephens was first vaccinated with a vaccine developed by Pfizer.
Related Posts:
