> The OS won't even give you access to the phone book without prompting the user. So somewhere along the way, the user knowingly gave Path access to their contacts.
The introduction of address book privacy in iOS was in large part prompted by the publication of Path's behavior. Up until the Path and eventually iOS update after the controversy first arose, Path didn't explicitly ask the user for access to their address book.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/02/15/iphone-address-book-issue...
> Path was fined, not for anything involving address books, but for allowing 12 year olds to sign up for the service.
Path was fined for the 12 year old signup thing specifically, but they were still charged with privacy violations regarding the address book kerfuffle.