Last month music-streaming service Spotify faced a user backlash and was accused of Orwellian practices when it updated its privacy policy.
However, on Thursday, Spotify once again updated its privacy policy in simple language to explain in detail about the company’s efforts to collect and share user data.
“We’ve kept our promise to update the Policy, but we’ve also gone a step further by incorporating a plain language introduction in the Policy itself. The Introduction is intended to be a clear statement of our approach and principles about privacy. We hope it provides a healthy dose of clarity and context too,” Spotify noted in a blog post.
It is to be noted that the revised policy is the same as it was from before, but the only difference is that the new privacy policy includes a section at the beginning that explains things in plain English what information it does and doesn’t collect.
The company explains that only data that falls into one of two categories is collected. The first is “information that we must have in order for you to use Spotify,” such as name, IP address, listening habits and sensor information so videos can be rotated correctly.
The second is “information that enables us to offer you additional features”, which Spotify will not access unless users “expressly choose to share it”.
The new privacy policy states that user location information is only used to create shared listening experiences and serve users with gig recommendations in their area, and Spotify only accesses users’ photo library to allow them to select a profile picture or images for playlists.
The app never accesses users’ contact list without their permission and will only do so to help them find other friends who are using the service.
The new privacy policy is rolling out in the coming days, although only those who have not yet agreed to the previous update will be sent a notification.
