Six Tech Companies Agree to Deal on Privacy Rules for Apps
By Dennis Kuba
February 23, 2012
February 23, 2012
- California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris reached an agreement with Apple, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and Research In Motion that could change how app makers address personal data and the way consumers download apps.
- The companies have agreed “that California law requires apps to have privacy policies, and that they would begin asking app developers who collect personal information to include them,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
- Twenty-two of the 30 most-downloaded mobile apps have no privacy policy. Moreover, most privacy policies are not clear to the average person.
- The privacy policies will provide a means to prosecute companies which take or use consumer information improperly.
- “Harris said that she agreed most privacy policies are ‘absolutely beyond the understanding of the average person,’ but that the six companies agreed in principle that app privacy policies ‘are going to be more clear and understandable,'” reports WSJ. “She said simply requiring privacy policies would force app developers to think about what information they are requiring from consumers — and why.”
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