Everyone knows that Google and Facebook use your information both to target ads for you and to improve their other services (e.g. better search results, better news feed). Do they both qualify as spyware?
However, I'm sure there are far more rigorous definitions of spyware and you should probably go with one of those in formal writing. I know it when I see it, but I'll let the experts define it.
Oh dear god, they're building.... a marketing profile! The horror, the horror. Won't somebody think of the children?
Now Path knows that I'm friends with Tom, and Tom likes Starbucks, therefore I must like Starbucks. Initiate media buys NOW!
Does anybody want access to my address book? Just let me know, I'll send it to you in a CSV. Prepare to be underwhelmed.
When someone else decides what to do with it without bothering to ask for permission, it is called an "invasion of privacy." For many people this is a bad thing. Bad enough that there are very severe legal repercussions for it dependent upon the jurisdiction and severity.
I am getting really tired of the argument that the facebook lot are being "brave" on my behalf. Or that "privacy is dead" like it was a fad to be discarded when the taste went sour.
Privacy is a right and it is to be abrogated with explicit consent only. While it is a right that is often abrogated by the actions of its possessor (wittingly or no), that is their option and choice. It is not for anyone else to decide.
Companies have been shipping apps that collect email lists, GPS, records, phone info, and all manner of other personal info back to their servers. We used to call this what it is: spyware, and it was considered illegal. Usually it is claimed this information is intended to "optimize the app for your personal preferences" but "social" is the new hotness. Often when it comes down to it we find this data is more valued for building marketing profiles of individual consumers.
Comparing these companies to a cute picture of a "docile retriever" being attacked by a pit bull (as if they're the victim!) is just over the top.