Article Response: F.T.C. Suggests Guidelines on Privacy for Mobile Apps by Edward Wyatt - Essay Example

The privacy of applications should be guarded strongly and safely against illegal use and collection; that is without the consent of the device and application users. This is because it leaves the users vulnerable to exploitation and abuse by application proprietors and developers, who collect the said information. As such, the report recommended by the FTC should be seen through to its end in implementation and enforcement as without it many will suffer from a lack of privacy. Especially affected are those that are still considered underage children as companies tend to collect their data even more than adults.

This shows a violation of rights since children do not have the power to know and even take legal action against the companies of their own accord as seen in “indicated that they were under age 13 without permission of their parents or disclosure of how it would use the information” (Wyatt). As a result, the move is strongly recommended to protect the privacy of internet users on their mobile devices. However, the report has some significant flaws that cannot be overlooked which acts as a deal breaker for me.

This is the guideline created to ensure that application developers stick to the defined code of conduct, which greatly interferes with the sense of creativity and revenue generation for developers, as well as the unexpected failure to meet requirements. This is of considerable concern following that it is likely that some of the companies providing applications may do their best to meet the demands of the report, and still fall short of the requirement. The above is unintentional and may lead to unfavorable consequences for vendors and not for the developers since vendors shoulder the liability for the failures of the developer.

The issue of the collection of data without the user's consent is not a new thing since most applications found on the Android platform, especially those developed by Google tend to collect personal data. This is evident in Google Android’s search engine that logs every query you put through a mobile device and saves it to monitor traffic, where it also collects information on the phone model, as well as contacts. However, this is not without notifying the user, which is a positive thing as violation remains at a minimum.

In conclusion, the article reflects most of the sentiments of the common internet user and puts them in a straightforward for him or her to understand. It also brings to light the bare concepts of privacy protection by the FTC and the obligation of application vendors and developers towards application users.