OTTAWA – The Privacy Commissioner of Canada is among 23 global privacy authorities who have signed an open letter to the operators of seven app marketplaces urging them to make links to privacy policies mandatory for apps that collect personal information.
The letter, dated December 9, 2014, was sent to Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, BlackBerry and Amazon.com, but is intended for all companies that operate app marketplaces.
Noting that privacy policy links sometimes appear in app marketplace listings, the letter says that a recent Global Privacy Enforcement Network Privacy Sweep of more than 1,200 of the world’s most popular apps found that this practice is not consistently applied.
“Given the wide-range and potential sensitivity of the data stored in mobile devices, we firmly believe that privacy practice information (for example, privacy policy links) should be required (and not optional) for apps that collect data in and through mobile devices within an app marketplace store”, the letter continues. “Such links provide a simple and convenient manner for individuals to obtain privacy-related information which they need to be meaningfully informed regarding the collection and use of their data before making the decision to download the app.”
