Still worth a look despite their US focus, these new guidelines from the Mobile Marketing Association are intended to provide ways to give the mobile application developer with clear and transparent policy language that can be quickly and completely understood by the consumer. Mark Smith asks how they have relevance for UK stakeholders.
Topic: Mobile marketing
Who: Mobile Marketing Association
Where: New York
When: October 2011
Law stated as at: 7 December 2011
What happened:
Billions of apps are now downloaded onto mobile devices every year worldwide, with 425,000 individual apps available via the Apple App Store as of June 2011 and more than 200,000 available for Android devices.
A significant proportion of these will collect personal data of various kinds including location data and amid increasing concerns over mobile privacy, the US-headquartered Mobile Marketing Association ("MMA") has released a proposed set of privacy policy guidelines for mobile apps.
The proposed guidelines provide example privacy policy wording alongside useful explanatory notes and are recommended by the MMA as a starting point for most mobile app privacy policies. The suggested language used is designed to be as consumer friendly as possible.
Key issues including the following are addressed:
• the information the application holds and how it is used.
• use of location data.
• transfers of information to third parties.
• automatic data collection and advertising.
• user opt-out rights.
• data retention.
• Children's Online Privacy Protection Act ("COPPA") compliance.
• security of information.
Note that it is emphasised in the guidelines that privacy policies are not a one-size-fits-all document. They will usually need to be customised for particular apps, and to that end the MMA encourages developers to consult a lawyer or privacy professional when crafting their own policies.
A copy of the draft guidelines can be requested here.
Why this matters:
Despite their US focus, these new guidelines provide some useful, consumer-friendly precedent language that can be adapted by UK businesses for their own mobile app privacy policies. Before finalising UK app policies, however, advice should be obtained as to the applicable UK law, including new laws on the use of cookies and other technology to access and store information on terminals of all kinds including mobile devices.
The guidelines were subject to a short consultation period, which has now ended, and a finalised version is expected shortly.
