It depends on what kind of privacy you care about. Personally, I care very much about the privacy of my private communications (Facebook messages, emails, texts).
I don't consider usernames or phone numbers to be private information. Being able to find someone's contact info by name (and vice versa) is useful and people who make this difficult are just annoying. Failing to protect contact information is very different from failing to protect actual communications or metadata, and a callous attitude towards the security of contact information does not imply a callous attitude towards the security of communications.
There is a reasonable argument that a map between phone numbers and usernames could blow pseudonyms. But AFAIK most people use Snapchat with their friends - people who already have their names and phone numbers. If you reuse your Snapchat username somewhere where you want to be anonymous, you've already fucked up. Your cover is already blown. Whether it's blown to your friends or the whole world is a distinction without a difference.
AFAIK, it falls under PII. I realize some may not consider this personal info, but many others do. There are laws built around its protection and disclosure.
I think a failure to protect any data, including PII, is harmful to the user experience and a brand's image.
Comments
It depends on what kind of privacy you care about. Personally, I care very much about the privacy of my private communications (Facebook messages, emails, texts).
I don't consider usernames or phone numbers to be private information. Being able to find someone's contact info by name (and vice versa) is useful and people who make this difficult are just annoying. Failing to protect contact information is very different from failing to protect actual communications or metadata, and a callous attitude towards the security of contact information does not imply a callous attitude towards the security of communications.
There is a reasonable argument that a map between phone numbers and usernames could blow pseudonyms. But AFAIK most people use Snapchat with their friends - people who already have their names and phone numbers. If you reuse your Snapchat username somewhere where you want to be anonymous, you've already fucked up. Your cover is already blown. Whether it's blown to your friends or the whole world is a distinction without a difference.
AFAIK, it falls under PII. I realize some may not consider this personal info, but many others do. There are laws built around its protection and disclosure.
I think a failure to protect any data, including PII, is harmful to the user experience and a brand's image.