App Developers getting confused about mobile privacy laws

Friday, January 18, 2013

A US representative has taken the lead on a new draft Bill aimed at mobile app developers again, regarding data retention policies, and privacy information in general. It's called the APPS act and though it is still being drafted and will likely not gain much traction, the idea behind it is a bit alarming.

While mobile privacy is a huge issue, and needs to be officially defined and addressed to protect mobile users, I feel like our law makers are muddying the waters with more ideas, and bills, and white papers, that are only going to confuse the app developer as to what they need to do in order to be in compliance with the law.

The initiative for mobile privacy protection by official agencies is already in play. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is developing its own mobile app privacy recommendations. But there are other Senators such as All Franken with his location privacy act trying to weigh in on the matter as well. Then you have the EFF with it's guidelines for mobile privacy, and the list is growing.

My fear is that there are going to be too many ideas and "official recommendations" floating around to keep anything straight if this keeps up. The mobile developer has so much other information to juggle, it's important for our law makers to be intentional with the law, and to understand that unless they get more focused and centralized with what is being put into the hands of the media, it is going to start being ignored by developers, not because they want to bypass the law, but because they still won't know "what the law is"...