data privacy

Mobile Apps and Terms of Use: the Instagram Debacle

by Lizbeth Hasse

Mobile app developers frequently need to update their Terms of Use, prompting the familiar but often ignored, “Terms & Conditions Have Changed” iPhone alert.

The updates usually accompany new technologies and services, and do not represent policy shifts or noticeable service changes; hence the heedless recipient. But as the recent Instagram controversy shows, providers should avoid hiding big changes in small print.

Instagram is a mobile application downloaded by more than 80 million users to date. It allows users to stylize and share photographs and other images using a variety of preset filters. Late last year, Instagram unveiled its new Terms of Use policy that included the following clause:

Mobile Apps and Consumer Privacy: California is Setting a New Standard for App Developers

by Lizbeth Hasse

Do your mobile apps run afoul of California’s privacy laws? About one hundred mobile application developers are discovering that their products might be “illegal,” and many others now have to worry.

California Attorney General Kamala Harris, consistent with her commitment to consumer privacy interests, has begun to send non-compliance letters to companies like United Airlines and OpenTable, whose applications not only offer consumers the convenience of tracking their flights or making dinner reservations, but also collect information about their preferences through their smartphones.