Some privacy advocates question mobile apps agreement

A proposed code of conduct for mobile app developers intended to make them explain how user data is collected and used does not have a clear enforcement mechanism, one privacy advocate said.

The code was negotiated this week by several trade groups and the U.S. National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). While many participants in the NTIA's mobile privacy negotiations voiced support Thursday for the transparency code of conduct, Consumer Watchdog criticized the document and the NTIA process. Just two participants voted to fully endorse the code, while 20 supported it, 17 voted for further consideration and one objected. Participants voicing support had no obligation to adopt the code, the NTIA said. "This is absurd Orwellian doublespeak," John Simpson, Consumer Watchdog's Privacy Project director, said in an email. "A company can put out a press release saying it supports the transparency code, boosting its public image and then do absolutely nothing." Several consumer and privacy groups voted to support the code, including the American Civil Liberties Union, Consumers Union, the Center for Democracy and Technology and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The Consumer Federation of America said both the code and the process that produced it are seriously flawed. "While the idea of short-form notices is appealing, the information that they would provide under this code falls far short of what is needed to tell mobile application users what is really happening with their data," said Susan Grant, director of consumer protection at CFA. "It does not explain how their data will be used beyond what is necessary for the function of the app. Moreover, the information about what kind of data is collected and with whom it is shared is very limited. Most disturbingly, while the code calls for mobile app developers to disclose whether users' data will be shared with certain types of third parties, such as social networks and ad networks, no disclosure is required when the data is shared with the very same types of entities if they are part of the same corporate structure as the app developer." Grant expressed frustration at the process -- NTIA voted on the draft at its last meeting -- and the work product, but abstained rather than dissented in deference to the work of other nonprofits on the code.

The Center for Digital Democracy, which has long expressed concerns about the multistakeholder process that produced NTIA's draft of a code of mobile app conduct, also abstained from that draft.