One of the most popular social networking apps available for iOS and Android devices is in a bit of hot water.

Path, a mobile-conceived blogging and status update tool, is apparently uploading iOS contact and address book information without explicit permission from users. This was discovered by accident by developer Arun Thampi.

While there is no evidence or reason to believe Path is doing anything wrong with user-data, co-founder and CEO Dave Morin told TechCrunch that it is working to be more transparent in terms of how the company harnesses user-driven data.

“This is currently the industry best practice and the App Store guidelines do not specifically discuss contact information,” Morin said. “However, as mentioned, we believe users need further transparency on how this works, so we’ve been proactively addressing this.”

As this is creating sandstorm among the digerati press, don’t be surprised to see changes in Path policy in the very near-term. Stay tuned.