The Pontiflex Blog

MMA Privacy Guideline for App Developers

February 7, 2012 at 1:34 pm Avantika Banerjee Leave a comment

At media post’s ‘Mobile Insider Summit’  local media guru Gordon Borrell  pointed out that there was a paradigm shift-taking place in advertising;  with most ad budgets being shifted from web to mobile. He pointed out that that the local mobile ad revenue was expected, to shoot up from the current $2 billion per year to $24 billion by 2016.[1]

Whether its retailers like best buy ,  game developers , or credit card companies like master card; the mobile market place is going to continue its steady and fast paced growth. Developers will continue to churn out apps (the vehicle of growth) for the mobile market.

With this growth there arises a question about consumer privacy, data collection + security and over all transparency. A combined study by TRUSTe and Harris interactive , indicated that,  “The vast majority of survey respondents (98%) believe that privacy is an important issue when using a mobile device and they want more transparency and choice over the personal information mobile apps and websites collect and share, especially as it relates to targeted advertising and geo-location data”.

Since Keeping this back ground in mind, the Mobile Marketing Association recently released MMA Mobile Application Privacy Policy guideline

This document offers a much needed guideline to app developers,  on how to construct their own privacy policies.  As Alan Chapell, Co-chair of the MMA Privacy & Advocacy Committee, states,  “Our guidelines offer developers the foundation from which to craft a document that reflects the privacy practices of each of their apps and helps them stay in compliance with applicable law and industry standards.  We urge app developers to consult with their legal counsel when adapting these guidelines for their purposes.”

This self regulatory push is indicative of the industry stepping upto provide support and set standards for the rapidly growing though still young and constantly evolving mobile app industry.

At Pontiflex we believe that transparent privacy and data collection practices & the power of choice in the hands of the consumer, form the fundamental basis of good business. Given that, the MMA guidelines are a step in the right direction.

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