MOBILE DEVICE PRIVACY ISSUES

Mobile Device Privacy Issues

Mobile Device Privacy Issues

Introduction

Mobile commerce is gradually emerging as a new commercial environment in the U.S., facilitated by the increasing numbers of consumers who have mobile phones and other portable wireless electronic communications devices. No longer simply a mobile telephone, mobile phones offer new communications and information services. Mobile commerce will enable consumers to use their mobile phones to conveniently purchase goods and services (like parking passes or theatre tickets) and to receive timely information content (like directions and maps). Mobile commerce is also generating new advertising opportunities for suppliers of new and existing products and services directed at consumers through their mobile phones. Two key privacy concerns for consumers arising from mobile advertising practices are:

1) The collection, use, and disclosure of consumers' personally identifying information that accompanies mobile advertising; and

2) The generation of unsolicited mobile advertising (Hypponen, 2006).

Description of project direction, Concept, Background

Significant attention has been directed towards privacy concerns attached to mobile devices, owing to the uniquely personal nature of handhelds. For example, congress has requested information from Apple pertaining to its data collection practices for a variety of services. Similarly, mobile advertisers face a litany of privacy complaints related to push advertisements that users had not opted in for. Because applications are newer pieces of the mobile space, it remains to be seen just how big a privacy threat third-party code might prove, and what privacy concerns will look like on different platforms in the long run. The app markets are still young and the rate at which new apps are being introduced to the markets is increasing. Producers are still very early in their findings with the App Genome project, but they hope to continue to provide analysis to help consumers better understand what the mobile apps on their phone are doing.

Applications developed for iPhone are more likely than those on the Android platform to access sensitive information on mobile devices, according to mobile security company Lookout (Abowd, 2008).

Lookout found that 14 percent of free iPhone applications have the ability to access users' contact lists, as compared to 8 percent of free Android applications. The company's research notes that most applications contain third-party code, often used for advertising or analytics, which can access permissions that users and application developers might not intend. The big point is that users should pay more attention to the permissions that apps are accessing. Developers should also pay careful attention to what data they are accessing and how they are storing and protecting user data.

Creative approach to communicate idea

Lookout is a mobile security company that produces applications designed to protect a variety of smartphones. It is investigating security threats in applications as a part of its App Genome Project. The App Genome Project has scanned almost 300,000 applications and fully mapped close to 100,000 in order to understand how applications are interacting with personal data on phones and identify prominent security threats. So far, findings suggest that Android applications tap into sensitive data, ...