The United States Energy and Commerce Committee sent a letter to Apple this week [PDF] asking about the accuracy of the app privacy labels that Apple asked developers to start adding to apps in December.
/article-new/2021/01/app-store-privacy-labels-iphone-12.jpg?resize=560%2C381&ssl=1)
In the letter, the committee asks Apple about reports suggesting that some app privacy labels are offering “misleading and false information”. The consultation was motivated by a story from January The Washington Post who found more than a dozen apps with inaccurate privacy labels.
Apple requires developers to provide information about all the data that an application collects, but developers are sending details of the privacy tag on an honor system, without verification by Apple itself. Apple said it routinely audits the information provided and works with developers to correct inaccuracies, but it is impossible for the company to check each application’s privacy list.
Application developers who are audited and do not disclose accurate privacy information may have future application updates rejected or, in some situations, applications may be removed entirely from the App Store if they are not in compliance.
Committee members Frank Pallone and Jan Schakowsky told Apple that a privacy label “offers no protection if it is fake” in the letter urging Apple to improve application privacy labels.
“According to recent reports, the app’s privacy labels can be highly misleading or blatantly false. Using software that records data transmitted to trackers, a reporter found that approximately one-third of the evaluated apps that said they didn’t collect data had inaccurate labels. A privacy label is not protected if it is false. We urge Apple to improve the validity of its application privacy labels to ensure that consumers receive meaningful information about their application’s data practices and that consumers are not harmed by these potentially misleading practices. “
Apple has been asked to provide the following details about its application privacy system:
- Details of the process by which Apple audits the privacy information provided by application developers and how often audits are performed;
- How many applications audited since the implementation of the application’s privacy label have provided inaccurate or misleading information;
- Whether Apple ensures that the application’s privacy labels are corrected after discovering inaccuracies or misleading information; and
- Details related to Apple’s application policies when an application fails to provide accurate privacy information for the application’s privacy label.
The committee asks Apple to send the requested information by February 23, so Apple has two weeks to write a response.
Note: Due to the political or social nature of the discussion on this topic, the discussion topic is located on our Political News forum. All forum members and site visitors can read and follow the topic, but posts are limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.