Mobile Apps May Have Harder Time With EU Privacy Compliance

This week, an updated safe harbor deal was agreed to between the EU and the U.S., allowing companies to continue their transfer of people’s personal data across the Atlantic. The agreement attempts to strike a balance between individual privacy, governmental security and corporate interests, but has yet to be approved by EU member states.

For brands, advertisers, marketers, and publishers collecting mobile data, depending on whether they get their data from Web sites or apps, it will be more difficult to comply with the new laws.

“For app-based data,” says Manion, “it is harder for the publisher to control, as it is harder to customize the app for all locations on a one-to-one basis. [Different countries have different laws that will need to be complied with.] The mobile data itself is potentially more sensitive as well.”

The EU passed more stringent privacy laws in December, allowing individuals to opt in to whatever collection and analysis programs a company has in place as long, as it’s explained clearly. Penalties for misusing data could be as high as 4% of a company’s annual global revenue.

However, says Ensighten CEO Josh Manion, “compliance is way harder than enforcement.”

Companies that haven’t been tracking how third parties use the data that flows through their sites may be caught out as the new laws take effect. Adds Manion: “I’d certainly subscribe to the idea that it’s an inevitability that privacy laws will be put into place on a global basis.”

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