App Downloads Get New Privacy Rules

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.