Path In Hot Water As Sharing Blitz Hits Grandparents Landline Phones

This week the folks at Path are dealing with a bit of controversy surrounding a search strategists' run-in with the social network aggregator. The story comes originally from user Branded3, who after testing the mobile app out, found several of his contacts – personal and professional – letting him know that they'd been getting more than a reasonable amount of "shares" from him via Path. In several cases it would seem landline phone numbers were called as Path's search through Branded3's Facebook friends contact info was shared to indiscriminately.

At the moment it seems (according to PC Mag) that Branded3 has been contacted by Path and that his social life has been repaired, so to speak. But the resulting clash between Path and Facebook is still in a bit of a battle heat. Facebook's current dealing with the situation includes blocking Path from using its full contact search abilities – this having never been true for Path up until this point.

At the moment it appears that Facebook is either limited or completely blocked from Path depending on the build you've got on your device. If you'd like to retain access to Facebook on Path, you may want to stick with the version you've got. We're currently awaiting word from Path on the subject to confirm their side of the story while this situation remains in flux.

Dave Morin, CEO of Path also spoke with AllThingsD this week about the app ecosystem.

"Invites on Path are never sent without a user's consent — any allegations to the contrary are false. ... We certainly hope that Facebook allows users to connect with their friends on Path and with any other partner applications in the future." – Morin for Path

If you've used Path in the past with Facebook onboard, please feel free to send in your comments and/or suggestions on how the two might live in harmony from this point on. As Facebook is not in the business of wanting to be associated with Spam in any way at all, it's not like the big blue social network to bend over easily when it comes to negative press such as this. Path may be in for a big cut-off for the time being.