Late last year, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a privacy bill by Sen.
Al Franken (D-Minn.) that would give smartphone users more control over their data. The proposed law would require app developers to obtain users' explicit consent before collecting or disclosing
their geolocation data.
"Companies that collect our location information are not protecting it the way they should," he stated. At the time, he referenced several high profile privacy snafus, including reports stating that iPhones and Androids were sending users' location
data to Apple and Google, and the Carrier IQ debacle. Carrier IQ gained notoriety in 2011, after a
researcher showed that its software could log keystrokes on mobile
devices.
Franken intends to reintroduce the bill this year. But not everyone thinks the proposed law would mark a change for the better.
The think tank Information Technology and
Innovation Foundation is arguing against the legislation, which it
calls "particularly problematic for apps that are supported by location-based advertising."
ITIF says the bill would require an app to obtain users' consent each time the app starts working
with a new ad network. ITIF says that requirement (and others) would result in unwieldy notices to consumers. "Many websites and apps already disclose this information in privacy policies. This
legislation is at odds with efforts to simplify privacy policies for consumers since it requires a separate disclosure. ...If we continue down this path in the future we may have legislation requiring
separate pop-up notice and consent requirements for every type of information collected and used by an app."
It's worth noting that ITIF itself doesn't appear to be especially averse to
pop-ups. Last September, the group made headlines by adding a prominent notice -- that users must click to close -- informing people that it was rejecting their do-not-track requests.