May 9th, 2012 | Morgan Reed
The Association for Competitive Technology welcomed forty of our app developer members to Washington, DC to meet with the White House, Congress, and the Federal Trade Commission. Our message is simple. The pace of innovation that is taking place right now in the app economy is remarkable. Washington should avoid taking steps that would unnecessarily hinder the continued growth of our industry.
ACT at the White House
Mobile app developers are part of a brand new marketplace that didn’t even exist four years ago. It is now a $20 billion industry. And the mobile app economy is primarily comprised of small businesses. Even the most successful apps are nimble small companies. The photo app Instagram that was recently acquired by Facebook for $1 billion has only twelve employees.
There are many other Instagrams out there waiting to succeed, but in order for the app economy to continue to grow we need more spectrum to meet the rising demand for mobile connectivity. Additionally, developers need make sure their apps aren’t stolen or copied in foreign app stores. And the big issue that is on everyone’s mind is privacy. We need to make sure we get privacy right so that users are secure in sharing what they are comfortable with in a way that doesn’t undermine the internet economy.
The administration is pursuing a Bill-of-Rights-style approach to privacy. As the association created by developers for developers, ACT ensures that the voices of app makers continue to be a part of this discussion. We are pleased that thirty of our Fly-In members were invited to the White House to meet with the Deputy Chief Technology Officer. In our meeting, he expressed the administration’s commitment to pursue a multistakeholder process to address privacy that requires the participation of the small business app developer community. As the administration tackles the issue of privacy, we pledge to work together to find solutions that protect consumer privacy and allow the app marketplace to grow.
These are issues that the federal government is facing. Having app developers come to Washington to educate lawmakers and regulators about the app industry can help them make the right decisions about our future. Hopefully, an informed Congress will help our developer members continue to flourish.
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May 1st, 2012 | Morgan Reed
On Friday we kicked off ACT’s app privacy events with a special Privacy boot camp for kids apps. In cooperation with Moms with Apps and Silicon Valley Apps for Kids, the event was held at the offices of Creativity, Inc., an innovative company that builds the software that goes into toys. During four intense hours of discussion, workshops, and learning, participants learned the basics of privacy law and how to treat the data their apps collect about customers with the highest respect and safety.
We were honored to have California Deputy Attorney General Alexandra Robert Gordon kick off the event. In her opening remarks, she shared how her office had worked with the major app platform providers (Apple, Microsoft, Google, RIM, and HP) to move toward a privacy infrastructure for each store that would ensure every app has a privacy policy for customers to review. This historic agreement helps safeguard the private data of consumers while making life easier for app developers. We are thankful for her efforts and we look forward to continuing to work together in crafting policy that benefits all parties involved.
Privacy attorney Christina Gagnier gave an overview of the current lay of the land and shared how the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act applies to mobile apps. This session sparked many questions from the audience about practical issues. It’s clear that App developers care about privacy and want to make sure their apps are both compliant with all applicable laws and meet the expectations of parents.
Jason Beatty of PrivacyChoice walked us through their Privacy Policy Maker to help app developers build a comprehensive and easy to understand privacy policy . This walk through covered all the decisions and options involved in building a privacy policy, including your app’s use of location awareness, analytics, and ad networks. Jason also shared the world premier of a new feature – the ability to automatically create graphical privacy disclosures based on the work of Mom’s With Apps. The feature is fully integrated in the Policy Maker and help parents quickly understand how an app will work.
ACT’s Morgan Reed shared the tremendous opportunities that become available when you build apps that include privacy by design and Mike Sax of Sax.net shared his personal experiences as an app developer and a number of best practices for building apps that take privacy seriously.
Participants walked away with a clear understanding of the law and a set of tools to implement good privacy practices. Now they can go back to focus on what they do best: building awesome apps that engage and delight their customers. Our next app privacy event will be held in Seattle as part of the Privacy, Identity, and Innovation Conference on May 14, 2012.
To be continued.
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April 27th, 2012 | Jonathan Godfrey
The FTCs decision to seek outside counsel in the Google antitrust case portends a tough road ahead for the search giant. After eluding significant enforcement action in the Buzz case, the Wi-Spy scandal, and its controversial privacy policy changes, it appears that the FTC is poised to move beyond its preliminary investigation and preparing for court action.
This hardly comes as a surprise for Google after attracting so much attention for its litany of privacy abuses. It is clear that the company feels emboldened to act willfully negligent toward consumer privacy because of its unassailable dominant market share. What will make this an interesting case to follow is the company’s recent behavior toward regulators. The FTC’s pending decision to pursue an antitrust case comes on the heels of the FCC’s scathing report on Google’s unwillingness to cooperate in the Wi-spy investigation. Google’s hostile and uncooperative interaction with government regulators hasn’t done them any favors with the FTC and suggests that any forthcoming antitrust activity will be especially contentious.
Tags: competition
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