California Attorney General Kamala Harris announced today that Apple, along with Amazon, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, and Research In Motion have agreed to privacy principles designed to bring their various mobile app stores in line with California law. According to the announcement, the agreement aims to ensure that mobile apps that collect personal information have a privacy policy, something not currently required of apps submitted to the App Store. Under the agreement, users will be able to view an app’s privacy policy prior to downloading the app; no timeline was given for implementation of the new principles.
“Your personal privacy should not be the cost of using mobile apps, but all too often it is,” said Attorney General Harris. “This agreement strengthens the privacy protections of California consumers and of millions of people around the globe who use mobile apps. By ensuring that mobile apps have privacy policies, we create more transparency and give mobile users more informed control over who accesses their personal information and how it is used.”
