CFA Abstains From Voting on Mobile App Privacy Code

Add the Consumer Federation of America to the NGOs not happy with the new draft of a mobile app voluntary code of conduct, saying both the code and the process that produced it are seriously flawed.

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration released the final draft Thursday, the work product of months of sometimes contentious negotiations among stakeholders, public interest groups and others. It provides for short-form notices to consumers about what info apps are collecting and how they are being shared.

"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 NGOs on the code. The Consumer Federation of America also abstained. Grant said she was not sure she would call it a multistakeholder process, and said she was concerned the process would be used as evidence to the world that privacy issues can be addressed without actually enacting laws that protect privacy.

The White House has called on Congress to codify the privacy bill of rights and Grant echoed that call, though she recognizes it is tough to get any legislation through a divided Congress.

The multistakeholder process appeared to be pretty divided itself. Grant said that she was a member of the testing subcommittee, but that it could never agree on how to conduct tests of the notice language so they were never conducted. She also said she would likely sit out the meetings on the next topic, which could be facial recognition.

The mobile app initiative is part of the government-led effort to flesh out an online privacy "bill of rights" embodying eight basic principles: Individual Control, Transparency, Respect for Context (data used consistent with context in which consumers provided it), Security, Access and Accuracy, Focused Collection ("reasonable limits") and Accountability (appropriate safeguards for data collection).

The White House has pushed Congress to codify those, but in the meantime called on industry players to commit voluntarily. Violators of that commitment could then be the target of FTC action under its charter to go after "false and deceptive" claims.

NTIA hosted a series of stakeholder meetings to come up with ways to bake such protections into a privacy Bill of Rights, with their initial focus on mobile apps.

LINK:	http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/494707-CFA_Abstains_From_Voti...
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