FTC Report on kids’ apps

The Federal Trade Commission issued a new staff report, “Mobile Apps for Kids: Disclosures Still Not Making the Grade,”examining the privacy disclosures and practices of apps offered for children. This report is a follow up to their first report in 2011, and found that there has been little progress toward giving parents the information they need to determine what data is being collected from their children, how it is being shared, or who will have access to it.  The report also finds that many of the apps surveyed included interactive features, such as connecting to social media, and sent information from the mobile device to ad networks, analytics companies, or other third parties, without disclosing these practices to parents.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/12/kidsapp.shtm

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2012/12/10/ftc-says-kid-apps-industry-needs-to-do-a-better-job/

http://techcrunch.com/2012/12/10/ftc-kids-apps-siphon-an-alarming-amount-of-information-time-for-freak-out-control/

http://www.macrumors.com/2012/12/10/ftc-investigating-kids-apps-over-privacy-concerns/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/11/technology/many-mobile-apps-for-children-fall-short-on-disclosure-to-parents-ftc-report-says.html?_r=0

http://www.cleveland.com/consumeraffairs/index.ssf/2012/12/six_things_parents_can_take_to.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2012/12/12/tech-now-predator-proof-kids-gadgets/1763227/

and some new regulations in response:

http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-federal-regulators-take-steps-to-strengthen-kids-online-privacy-20121219,0,5992685.story