Are you aware that more new privacy concerns are raised as more mobile apps are available on the market? It seems very effortless for many smartphone users to click on any application and download it without any concern. However, they do not pay attention to the app’s terms and conditions; they simply accept all of what the fine print contains. The thing is that they do not know about the privacy implications that go along with the products that they “buy”.
Mostly written by lawyers, service terms and security policies make little or no sense at all to the lay person. Many may have tried to read that fine print but end up abandoning the idea because of the lengthy litanies of legal terms. The explanation for this is simple - because they are too extreme for the lay man to understand. Eventually, more privacy concerns emerge as more users ignore the importance of understanding those terms and conditions.
Reading and understanding the terms and conditions, however, do not guarantee privacy. A user has to agree on giving up some of his or her personal information in exchange for the product. The bottom line would be how much information the user is willing to give up. The user’s willingness would also depend on how open the data mining company is about how the data will be used. Sad to say, there are users who care less about privacy just to have the benefits and convenience of an application.
The number of mobile apps is growing fast, reaching beyond the almost 600,000 sold by Apple alone. Think about the privacy implications generated by each of these apps. There have been bad reports in the past about personal data being downloaded by gaming apps without the user’s knowledge. Users get to know about this when they are being haunted by targeted ads and other aggravating tricks.
Because of their usefulness, popularity and attractiveness, it would be impractical to stop the flood of new apps. Users are expected to be interested in, be curious about and eventually use them. Except for the very few, most users would dive into the sea of apps without any hint of the repercussions. However, the availability of these products adds to the force that pushes users to download them.
Those less informed users are now trying to be reached by several privacy groups. They are being educated on how they could preserve their privacy. One of the efforts that the groups are undertaking is how to make users aware of the information that they share. They are trying to find easier ways for users to know what information is being gathered about them. At present, less than 50% of the apps have their privacy policies posted, which makes the job difficult to do. Nonetheless, the issue of privacy concerns raised by mobile apps needs to be resolved quickly.
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