[Drbble]

It is not just violating privacy. It is unauthorized access to a computer system, aka malware, aka hacking/cracking. If you did that to Path it would be a felony and you would go to jail. Why is it not a felony in the other direction?

[drivebyacct2]

Because this access is authorized? I would argue that the presence of an API (whose purpose is to provide access to the data they consumed) constitutes "authorized" access. The app doesn't intrude or circumvent the privacy protections of iOS.

On the other hand, if an app was able to forcibly allow itself access to Location Services and ignore the iOS setting, I would argue that is unauthorized.

Granted, I have absolutely no idea what the context of unauthorized is from a purely legal standpoint.