App Downloads Get New Privacy Rules

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By Douglas A. McIntyre Published

As a part of a series of major privacy intiative meant to protect people from data gathering by websites, apps, and browsers, several companies have agreed to insist customers know what information app providers collect

Among those companies which have agreed to inform consumers about app data collections are Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) , and Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN). Google and Apple are the most important. Each provides an app store which allows for the download of hundreds of millions of apps— Apple to the iPhone, and Google to Android enabled smartphones.

The first place that the restrictions will take place is in California where the attorney general got the app privacy agreement,. But, the regulation are likely to be nationwide soon. App store will carry data about what information apps collect.

The new process could put a lid on how often people download the most popular apps and hurt the businesses of those companies. Many apps are paid. Free ones count on collected data, in many cases, to use to target their own marketing messages or to be sold to firms that want to be able to do similar targeting

According to SF Gate

The redesign is part of a broader agreement designed to bring mobile apps into compliance with California’s Online Privacy Protection Act, passed in 1994, which requires online service providers that collect personal information about users to post their privacy policies in a conspicuous place. Of the top 30 most-downloaded apps today, 22 do not have posted privacy policies, according to the attorney general’s office.

Broader will get broader as other states,and perhaps the federal government, push for similar treatment.

Photo of Douglas A. McIntyre
About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.

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