Ex-TechCrunchers decry TechCrunch-like practices | InfoWorld [Video]

Ex-TechCrunch editors scold tech bloggers for pageview plays, sensationalism, and shoddy standards. Sound familiar?

Another day on the InterWebs, another blogger squabble: This one has to do with the quality of online tech journalism itself, and it comes from a rather ironic source.

But first, some backstory. It starts with Path, a mobile social networking app that did a major privacy faceplant last week. Developer/blogger Arun Thampi discovered that Path 2.0 automatically copies users’ smartphone contacts to its servers without asking permission or notification. As privacy violations go, this is way worse than anything Facebook has ever done, and it approaches Google’s Wi-Fi spying debacle.

[ Also on InfoWorld: Need a refresher on the TechCrunch fiasco? Let Cringely walk you through the mess. ]

Path CEO Dave Morin’s first response was to say, in effect, “Meh, no big deal, we do this to ensure a better experience, blah blah blah, but we are finally getting around to telling our users this is …