by 
In February of 2012, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a report, called “Mobile Apps for Kids: Current Privacy Disclosures are Disappointing,”on a survey of mobile apps directed at children that are available in Apple’s App Store and the Google Play app store. At the time, the report found that “Little or no information was available to parents about the privacy practices and interactive features of the mobile apps surveyed prior to download.”
Yesterday, the FTC released its follow-up report, which shows that many app developers didn’t listen to the federal agency when it comes to protecting the privacy of our children.
The new report, titled “Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade,” shows evidence of app developers collecting children’s information and sharing it, unbeknownst to the kids’ parents. Based on a survey conducted this past summer, the FTC examined the disclosures that app developers provide about their privacy policies, as well as interactive features, such as links to Facebook. The recent survey also tested certain offending apps to determine just how far the privacy failure went. It turns out, pretty far. As stated, apps geared toward children are collecting personal information and sharing it with third parties without the knowledge or consent of a parent or guardian.
As an app reviewer, I download and supply personal information to hundreds of developers. I know that my information is being shared, but it is a price I pay as a reviewer. I use a special email address for registration, but I know that data on my iPhone, iPod touch and iPad are also being shared.
Children don’t necessarily understand privacy rights. I’d imagine that most of them don’t care at all. It is a parent’s job to keep an eye out for privacy violations. However, if there is no red flag warning, parents wouldn’t necessarily know that their children’s information is being shared. It is the job of app developers to let parents know what their policies are and what they plan to do with the information.
The FTC urges app developers to incorporate privacy protections into the design of mobile products, offer parents easy-to-understand choices about the data collection and sharing through kids apps, and provide greater transparency about how data is collected, used and shared through kids’ apps.
It doesn’t seem like a difficult process, yet app developers are turning a blind eye to protecting children. Doesn’t that make them predators of kids? It may not be that ominous, but these developers are intentionally avoiding transparency of their privacy policies and taking advantage of kids’ inability to understand their own rights.
Apple should step in and require apps to provide privacy policy information right on the apps’ summary pages. If parents are aware of what a developer plans to do with the information it collects, they can make well informed choices about whether they want to let their kids use the app.
This goes for all apps. According to the FTC report, 31 percent of mobile phone users assume that their information is being kept private unless otherwise stated. All apps should be required to supply guidelines and privacy policies on their apps’ summary pages. Apple recently updated iTunes so that apps now have different page tabs. There is the “Details” page, the “Ratings and Reviews” page, and the “Related” page. Why can’t there be a fourth tab called, “Privacy Policies” that list exactly what the developer intends to do with our personal information?
[Via: FTC.gov]
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Apple Will Now Disclose an App’s Privacy Policy Before it’s Downloaded from the App Store
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