Photo app uploading user's address books

SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- The popular U.S. photo-sharing service Path says its app automatically uploads iPhone users' entire address books to its servers to enhance users' experience.

The unilateral uploading was discovered by developer Arun Thampi who blogged that his "entire address book [including full names, emails, and phone numbers] was being sent ... to Path," CNET reported Tuesday.

Thampi said the service never asked for his permission to upload something as sensitive as his contacts.

Responding to Thampi's post, Path founder and Chief Executive Officer Dave Morin released a statement.

"We upload the address book to our servers in order to help the user find and connect to their friends and family on Path quickly and [efficiently] as well as to notify them when friends and family join Path," he wrote.

Morin's said Path has specifically been asking Android users for permission to upload the address book for "a few weeks," but has not yet made the feature an opt-in on iPhones.

Path is "rolling out the opt-in for this in 2.0.6 of our iOS client, pending [Apple's] App Store approval," Morin wrote.

"We fundamentally believe that you as a user should always have control over your information and data and you can always e-mail our service team and we will remove anything you'd like from our servers," he said.