When it comes to brick and mortar clubs, getting in is usually the challenge. Clubhouse, the audio-focused social media app, seems to have reversed this logic.
different Twitter or Facebook, Clubhouse offers no immediate way for users to delete their accounts. Instead of an option to do this on the app itself or through the company’s website, Clubhouse’s privacy policy states that users need to send an email to the company with an opt-out request.
“Please log in to your account or contact us (at [email protected]) if you need to change or correct your personal data, or if you want to delete your account,” he says.
It is unclear how long it takes Clubhouse to process account deletion requests.
Unlike simply deleting an application from your phone, deleting an account – and any associated data – is a way to ensure that your personal information does not remain on a company’s servers long after you leave. This may be of particular interest to Clubhouse users, as the application requires access to their entire contact list for the purpose of sending invitations (which is the only way, at the time of this writing, to obtain an account).
As Facebook has repeatedly demonstrated, this specific data set is particularly revealing, and questions related to user privacy are now being asked appropriately at the Clubhouse.
An individual’s telephone contact list exposes all types of potentially sensitive personal information, such as past and present therapists, doctor’s offices, rehabilitation facilities, places of worship and drug dealers, among others.
, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, expressed similar concerns on Thursday.
“My phone’s contact list is not a list of my friends,” she wrote. “There are people on that list that I never want to hear and would rather not have any information about what I’m doing.”
My phone’s contact list is not a list of my friends. There are people on that list that I never want to hear and would rather not have any information about what I’m doing. I will never want to send an invitation to anything on my contact list.
– Eva (@evacide) February 11, 2021
We sent an account deletion request to the Clubhouse, but we did not receive an immediate response.
If you live in California, however, you may be in luck. Thanks to (CCPA), Golden State residents receive extra mention in the app’s privacy policy. Specifically, he details how Californians “may have a right” to know what data the Clubhouse has collected about them and to request their exclusion. Much like an account deletion request, you should send an email to [email protected].
Notably, in the past few days, the app’s privacy policy and terms of service have disappeared briefly from your website and the app itself. Instead of finding a detailed explanation of how the company records the room’s audio (what it does), any interested user who clicked “Privacy Policy” in the application settings on Thursday was directed to a welcome page semi-empty welcome.
“Hey, we’re still opening, but anyone can join with an invitation from an existing user!” read the page where the privacy policy was.
Not good
Image: screenshot / club
The privacy policy and terms of service are once again active on the site, with no obvious changes.
SEE TOO: Here’s what you need to know about Clubhouse, the invite-only social app
We contacted the Clubhouse to ask why the app’s privacy policy and terms of service disappeared shortly, but we only received an automatic email in response.
This, of course, does not inspire confidence. And perhaps it should serve as a reminder that not all clubs are worth joining.