Spies like U.S. – Law enforcement agencies and your data

Are law enforcement agencies infiltrating servers to steal customer data? And, if so, what can we do about it? Simon Bates, MEF’s Senior Advisor for Policy & Initiatives details the steps you can take to protect your personal data. We all know how valuable data is to apps companies – many business models are based around sharing consumers’ personal information with advertisers and other third parties. In return, the app is often heavily discounted so, as long as the developer is sensitive to privacy concerns, everyone wins. However, people are waking up to the fact that there might be …

Mobile gaming for kids: stay on the right side of the law

The UK government recently shone a light on the underhand techniques some developers used to get kids and their parents to spend more on in-app purchases. Here MEF’s Senior Advisor for Policy & Initiatives, Simon Bates takes a look at the right and the wrong ways to involve kids in the app experience. Earlier this year, the UK Office of Fair Trading investigated 38 mobile games aimed at children. It found a number of causes for concern, and not just for kids and their parents. It is likely that many of the games-makers in question were in breach of several different laws and …

Standing room only for MEF privacy workshop at AppsWorld Europe

Steve ‘Woz’ Wozniak wasn’t the only draw at last month’s AppsWorld expo in London. More than 60 developers crammed into the Tech World workshop to hear about AppPrivacy – MEF’s free privacy policy generator. MEF Chair Andrew Bud hosted a panel including Martin Fanning, a partner at international law firm Dentons, James Pimentel-Pinto, a founding director of leading UK developer AgencyMobile, and MEF’s Senior Advisor for Policy & Initiatives, Simon Bates, who here summarises the session, which you can watch in full in the video below. MEF has long championed the importance of building …

Australian Government publishes guide to mobile privacy

Simon Bates is MEF’s Senior Advisor for Policy & Initiatives - here he shares his thoughts on a recently published guide to Mobile privacy from the Australian Information Commissioner. Simon and other MEF members are hosting a free privacy workshop on October 23rd at Apps World Europe in London, that will explore best practice for data collection in mobile apps, featuring mobile industry privacy experts and the creators of MEF's online tool - AppPrivacy™. In September, the Australian Information Commissioner published a better practice document for mobile app developers. I know what …

MEF unveils AppPrivacy – the free privacy policy generator for mobile apps

Today MEF launched AppPrivacy™, a free resource for app developers around the world featuring a best practice privacy policy generator, with the goal to build consumer trust. Simon Bates, MEF’s Senior Advisor for Policy & Initiatives, takes us on a tour of its key features, and explores how the online tool is the result of more than a year’s collaboration by MEF's Privacy in Apps Working Group. Why App Privacy? And why now? In previous posts I've stressed the need for app developers to think hard about their use of personal information. Privacy is a hot topic right now in the US, …

NTIA Code for mobile app transparency: an analysis

The NTIA is an agency within the US Dept of Commerce responsible for advising the President on telecoms and IT issues. Last month, it published a Code of Conduct for mobile app developers in an attempt to improve transparency in the collection and use of personal information. MEF’s Senior Adviser for Policy & Initiatives, Simon Bates takes a look at the new Code, and assesses what it will mean for apps and app developers. In June 2012 the NTIA convened a cross section of stakeholders interested in the app economy. This includes privacy, civil liberty and consumer advocates, app developers …

Guest Blog: Privacy Update

The Privacy Blog continues, with news from MEF's Simon Bates on the latest developments in the Privacy in mobile Apps Initiative, and a call for help from MEF members. You will be aware of the excitement around online privacy. Businesses realised a long time ago that the information they collected from people visiting their sites was valuable to advertisers. Few, though, made it clear that this information was being bought and sold. This led to a public outcry which resulted in ‘Do not Track’ legislation in the USA and the ‘Cookies’ Directive in Europe.  Legislators are now turning their …

Guest Blog – MEF Privacy Update

In this new regular feature, Simon Bates of MEF will discuss the issue of mobile privacy and the work currently being undertaken by MEF’s Privacy in Mobile Apps initiative, which is working with MEF members to build a robust and trusted mobile ecosystem for consumers and developers alike.“There's an irresistible market for our data but that doesn't necessarily make us the product – it could make us traders.” David MitchellThere is a lot of talk right now about privacy. The fall-out from the phone hacking scandals in the UK shone a spotlight on the ways tabloid journalists peer into …