May 14, 2018
Apple has always been known for its meticulous approach at customer’s data privacy. Thereby, it is inevitable that it would tighten its grip over its policies compliance to meet the new GDPR laws.
In the latest report published over the issue by 9 to 5 Mac, the company’s attempts over cracking some of the apps that weren’t following the App Stores guidelines, were brought to light. It stated that the apps that were not following the 5.1.1 and 5.1.2 guidelines were taken down from the company’s App Store. The owners of the respective apps were notified of the action with an email that also mentioned the process of their resubmission. Here is one such email, shared by a developer Thomasbcn over twitter
As the mail points out, the action was taken to prevent the developers from sharing the user’s location with any third party organization without their confirmation.
To be precise, all those apps that were not taking prior confirmation from the users before sharing their location data with third parties, and the apps that were not clarifying the purpose for which the aforementioned data was collected, were removed.
Developers can resubmit these apps for the revaluation after removing the modules, scripts, and the specific APIs that were against the aforementioned guidelines. For further clarification, the report has also pointed out the specifics of company’s guidelines, that any data collected by the app must only be used to enhance the user experience and should, therefore, be done only after acquiring informed consent from them.
“You may not use or transmit someone’s personal data without first obtaining their permission and providing access to information about how and where the data will be used. Data collected from apps may not be used or shared with third parties for purposes unrelated to improving the user experience or software/hardware performance connected to the app’s functionality.”
It’s evident that the prominence of GDPR in the digital world, is bringing transformative changes in the company’s policies and their concern over their compliance. It’s hard to tell how many of the companies will have to change their business models to comply with these new laws, while also maintaining their profitability.
Regardless of the disruption in the market, the law has made it clear once again, companies may define expectations of the target audience, but the ultimate power will always remain in the hands of users.
Resources:
https://www.theverge.com/2018/5/9/17334602/apple-targeting-apps-location-data-sharing-third-parties
https://9to5mac.com/2018/05/08/apple-location-apps-third-parties/
