Privacy and security are crucial components of a safer internet and a successful app economy. Our members use privacy by design to keep our information protected as our world lives, works, and plays through apps. Even the smallest app companies make a big impact, leading their communities and working tirelessly to drive innovation in today’s app economy. However, small businesses’ ability to lead depends substantially on whether their clients and customers can rely on them to protect the privacy and security of their personal data. To compete with the world’s largest companies on the app stores, our members must cultivate trust. Curated online marketplaces often help them earn the consumer confidence necessary to beat bigger rivals.
Congress must act to protect and empower the developers driving America’s app ecosystem the same way their leadership and innovations have protected and empowered us. This includes preserving the infrastructure our small business developers rely on to keep consumers safe from malware attacks and nonconsensual surveillance and passing a federal privacy law.
“I don’t think many people appreciate how much the platforms do to secure the ecosystem and enforce privacy protections. Right now, that dynamic enables small firms, like MotionMobs, to add tremendous value for clients by solving complex problems that used to be only possible for bigger companies.” – Morgan White, MotionMobs
The Year of Privacy is Now
In 2022, the United States saw more than 200 consumer privacy bills in circulation in statehouses across the country. This privacy patchwork is spanning from coast to coast and puts our small business members at a huge disadvantage when it comes to cost and compliance, especially compared to larger companies that have large legal teams ready to comply with 50 individual state privacy laws.
The first half of 2022 saw a 42 percent increase in cyberattacks compared to 2021, and we can only expect that number to increase. When developers are stripped of the privacy and security tools they need, each and every one of us becomes the next target of a cyberattack.
“Equitable workplace innovation requires a secure foundation for all players in the app economy. Inaction around a federal privacy law is putting our essential infrastructure at risk and furthers the innovation gap between the small and large players in the app ecosystem. If America wants to continue to be a diverse, global leader when it comes to technological innovation, we need to be able to rely on consistent, clear rules around data privacy.” – Chris Sims, CAVU
ACT | The App Association and our members are asking Congress to help developers keep their local communities and the $6.7 trillion app economy safe and cyber-secure by passing a federal privacy law that preempts inapposite state privacy requirements. The bipartisan American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA, H.R. 8152) provides a solid foundation and Congress should continue to improve on it before moving it forward in the process.