Antitrust Law Daily Wrap Up, PRIVACY NEWS: House Bill Would Impose Privacy, Security Obligations on Mobile App Developers, (May 10, 2013)

By John W. Arden, J.D., LL.M.

Legislation to require mobile application developers to maintain privacy policies, obtain consent from users before collecting data, and securely maintain collected data was introduced yesterday in the U.S. House of Representatives. The proposed Application Privacy, Protection, and Security (APPS) Act of 2013 was introduced as H.R. 1913 by U.S. Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA).

The proposal would require mobile applications developers to provide the user with notice of the terms and conditions governing the collection, use, storage, and sharing of personal data and to obtain consent of the user to such terms and conditions before collecting personal data. The user would have the right to withdraw consent, requiring the developer to refrain from further collection and, to the extent practicable, to delete any collected and stored personal data.

The Federal Trade Commission would be obligated to specify by regulation the format, manner, and timing of the required notice. A violation of the APPS Act would constitute an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the FTC Act. The Commission would be authorized to enforce the law, but states would be permitted to bring a civil action, as parens patriae, to enjoin acts and practices and to obtain damages, restitution, or other compensation on behalf of residents. The FTC would have the right to intervene in the action.

Mobile app developers would be able to satisfy the requirements of the APPS Act by adopting and following a code of conduct for consumer data privacy developed in a multi-stakeholder process convened by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration.

The proposal defines "mobile application" as a software program that runs on the operating system of a mobile device and with which the user of the device directly interacts. A "mobile device" is defined as a smart phone, tablet computer, or "similar portable computing device that transmits data over a wireless connection." Personal data shall have the meaning given by FTC regulation.

A Summary of Key Provisions of the bill, provided by Representative Johnson, appears here.

H.R. 1913 was introduced and referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The measure was co-sponsored by U.S. Representatives Steve Chabot (R-OH), John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI), Eliot L. Engel (D-NY), and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).

News: Privacy