The Federal Trade
Commission, which recently charged Google with violating Gmail users' privacy, now has mobile companies in its crosshairs.
"Staff has a number of active investigations into privacy issues
associated with mobile devices, including children's privacy," Jessica Rich, deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said in a prepared statement submitted to
the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law.
Rich added that mobile technology "presents unique and heightened" privacy concerns.
"Unlike other types of technology,
mobile devices are typically personal to the user, almost always carried by the user and switched-on," Rich stated. "Further, the rush of on-the-go use, coupled with the small screens of most mobile
devices, makes it even more unlikely that consumers will read detailed privacy disclosures."
Subcommittee chairman Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) called the hearing two weeks ago, after news surfaced
that iPhones, iPads and Android devices collected detailed information about users' locations. iPhones and iPads store that data on a "consolidated.db" file within the devices.
Apple's user
agreement says that iPhones and iPads don't collect such data if users turn off location services. But the company recently acknowledged that a "bug" in its software resulted in devices gathering and
storing that data regardless of whether users disabled location services. Apple recently released a software update that fixes the bug. Devices powered by Google's Android do not collect location data
unless users consent.
Franken asked Rich whether the FTC would consider the apparent inaccuracy in Apple's user agreement a deceptive business practice. Rich said she couldn't comment on specific
companies, but added that a misleading statement would constitute a deceptive practice.
Apple is facing at least two lawsuits by consumers who allege the company violated federal computer fraud
laws by capturing data information about their locations. In addition, Apple and Google face separate lawsuits by mobile users who allege that the companies transmitted their devices' unique
identifiers with outside companies.
Franken said at the hearing that lawmakers don't want to stop Apple and Google from producing products or doing "incredible" things. "When people think of
the word 'brilliant' they think of the people that founded and run your companies," he said in his opening statement. But he added: "Federal laws do far too little to protect" people's information.
"I think people have the right to know who is getting their information and how information is shared and used," he said.