Global mobile industry to lift its game on customer privacy

Stuart Corner
Friday, 28 January 2011 09:23

IT Policy - Regulation

Global mobile industry body, the GSMA, has issued a set of high level privacy principles as a first step to improving safeguards around customer information.

However their focus is on information gathered through the use of mobile applications and services rather than simply information as customers, the loss of which recently caused great embarrassment to Vodafone in Australia.

The principles document states that the principles "apply to applications and services that may impact a user's privacy [including] applications or services that seek to access, collect and otherwise use personal information and other private data about users which may be held on a mobile handset or which information may be generated by the end users use of a mobile application or service. They also apply to activities that impact user privacy in other ways, such as through intrusion, unwarranted contact or real-time monitoring."

GSMA said the principles were "the result of close collaboration by leading mobile operators and input from other players in the wider mobile eco-system '¦ [and] will be used to develop more detailed guidelines and codes of conduct to address specific consumer concerns such as the use of private data or location details by applications.

"They pave the way for the development of clear and simple ways for customers to manage their information and their privacy on mobile phones. The key challenge is to find new mobile-friendly methods to help consumers make informed decisions about their privacy."

GSMA's chief regulatory officer, Tom Phillips, said: "The Mobile Privacy Principles are a significant first step but addressing mobile privacy is an ongoing challenge that requires the support and collaboration of the wider internet industry, civil society and regulators, working together, if we are to deliver real protection for consumers. This is a call to action to the broader industry."

The principles themselves are listed on the following page:

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