Loan sharks?! We reached a point when I don't even allow chat app (WhatsApp) to access my contacts. Banks' apps love contacts as well ("send money to phone number"). With "convenience" bait they get birth dates, physical addresses, emails, profile photos, and whatnot. I see from behind my keyboard how banks salivate to calculate some credit worthiness from the contacts uploaded (and confirmed by the entry in the other person's address book).
I just immediately uninstall any app that requests access to contacts without me first indicating I'd like to use that app to share something with my contacts.
This is the correct kneejerk, but I assume it's not for the majority of users. It makes me hesitant to give out contact info knowing it'll end up building shadow profiles despite how useful having a easily-shareable vCard should be.
Loan sharks?! We reached a point when I don't even allow chat app (WhatsApp) to access my contacts. Banks' apps love contacts as well ("send money to phone number"). With "convenience" bait they get birth dates, physical addresses, emails, profile photos, and whatnot. I see from behind my keyboard how banks salivate to calculate some credit worthiness from the contacts uploaded (and confirmed by the entry in the other person's address book).