Group 7 : OrientExpress Blog

RankFirst respects user’s privacy and won’t sell your personal data.

What types of information?

1. User’s email address and the password
2. User’s social activities records of mobile phone(Calls, Messages, Videos and Meetings)
3. User’s exact current physical location
4. User’s Social networks information

Where is the information stored?

1. User’s email address and exact current physical location are saved on local device as session information, that is user’s mobile phone
2. User’s first and last names, email address, password and social activities records of mobile phone are stored on RankFirst secure servers
3. User’s social networks information is stored on third party servers such as Facebook or Twitter

How the information is used?

1. When you register with RankFirst, user provides information to register and set up an account, including first and last names, email address, and password. The user’s email address and the password should only be used for the verification of the app login and it will never be disclosed to any third party. This email address is used to provide user the Services, send user Service related notices, including any updates to features of the app and notices required by law.
2. After user registers the RankFirst app, user’s social activities histories of mobile phone will be recorded by the app in order to rank the contacts according to the RankFirst app’s algorithm.
3. The user’s exact current physical location is inherently private and that it should only be used in very limited ways over which user has control. For this reason, RankFirst gives user the right to decide whether his/her current location could be viewed by contacts. This function uses the known position of reference points and satellite signals to determine the location of mobile devices.
4. User’s social networks information could be reorganized by combining with the ranked contacts.

This news is focusing on the Path a successful contact list app in mobile. And there is some experience we can take them as examples into our app.

Path is an app based on contact list of mobile; it has a great number of user groups now. Though there are some problems occurred in early stage of Path such as charged by users due to the exposing their personal information, it also has attracted many users to try it. As we know, the most important key in social network is the user group. Thus, how to get the stable user group is a crucial point to learn from Path. From this news, Path attracts some active memberships from other social websites who has a large number of fans. I think is a good and efficient method to use in our app. additionally, there is permission for users when they first use the Path, which is good for terms of privacy. Depends on our app, it is necessary for us to make permission for users before they use the app and some security measures can be embed into our app. Path is a impressive app on contact list and its pattern has proved. However, comparison with our project: Rank First, Path cannot do the rank for customers. Rank is the most obvious function of our product. By using Rank First, customer also can do the actions like another SNS websites.

Links: http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/technology/story/2012-03-21/path-privacy/53694216/1