"There's an App for That"

The Wall Street Journal
"Mobile-App Makers Face U.S. Privacy Investigation"
By: AMIR EFRATI, SCOTT THURM and DIONNE SEARCEY


American consumers are becoming more and more dependent upon the flexibility, speed, and connectivity that a smartphone can provide. These devices connect Americans to people and places all over the world, and the phrase, "There's an app for that." has been engrained in our minds. We know that there are thousands upon millions of downloadable applications for consumers to enjoy, but what would we think if we found out these applications handed over personal information to outside companies for advertising and revenue purposes? 


The article mentioned above announces that several application providers are now under an investigation to look into this potential breach of privacy. In New Jersey, federal prosecutors are currently trying to find out if application providers illegally obtained or gave out personal information about their consumers without the proper disclosure information. This means that a consumer's location, age, gender, and other information could have been given to another entity for the purposes of customizing advertisements found throughout the smartphone applications. This investigation is taking place because it is unclear whether application providers fully explained to their users what types of personal data they collected or why it was being collected. Collecting this type of data without knowledge or consent would be in violation of a federal computer-fraud law.


Many companies with smartphone applications are currently being issued subpoenas; one of these is Pandora, Inc. In a recent study, 101 applications were tested, and it was found that 56 of them transmitted a phone's unique identifier to outsider companies without the users' knowledge. Forty-seven transmitted users' locations, and five offered the users' ages and genders. At the time of the test, forty-five of the applications did not have a privacy policy located within the application or on-line. 


This is becoming more serious everyday, for more people are switching over to the smartphone. Consumers want the latest and greatest in technology, but as we are becoming more aware, they don't want it to cost them their privacy. I am becoming more aware that Americans are generally more private when engaged in face-to-face conversation, but when online, everything comes out onto the page or text or tweet. Now, I know this article is not about the lack of censoring when users blurt information online for the whole world to see, but it is still linked in a way. Online privacy, whether from the consumers' side or the producers' side, is becoming a major issue in our country. Application creators need to take more responsibility and not take lightly the technological power that they now have over application users. Yes, consumers should be more careful when downloading and using technology, and we should look out for our own safety. Nevertheless, the creators need to realize that if they cut corners or give private information out to advertisers and other outside companies without consent from the users, it will be uncovered. Investigations will continue, and these smartphone application firms could potentially enter into a time when a major PR overhaul must take place. In my mind and in a perfect world, producers and consumers should work together by asking questions, researching, and remaining honest. 


When this article was discussed in my Business Administration class, we were shocked that Pandora, Inc. was included in this article and that they could potentially suffer from this investigation. While my classmates and others love their Pandora applications, they still wonder why Pandora would give out personal information. Maybe Pandora does not do this; but for now, we won't know until the investigation is finished and the court rules. Have we given ourselves over to technology, allowing it to abuse our trust and privacy, or do we as consumers look the other way and not care about our private lives until they become extremely public?