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Apple informs consumers about the data use of apps following call from regulators worldwide

Apple will indicate in its App Store what personal data each app uses. Starting today, app providers are required to include such information on their products’ pages in app stores. This information will shortly become visible to consumers, when looking for apps in the App Store. Consumers will be able to take this information into consideration when choosing apps. This will stimulate providers to compete with each other on favorable privacy conditions. With this change, Apple answers the call made by 27 consumer authorities across the world, united in ICPEN (International Consumers Protection and Enforcement Network). The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) is also one of its members. As yet, Google has not responded to this call.

Cateautje Hijmans van den Bergh, Member of the Board of ACM, comments: “A free app that sells your data to third parties is not truly free. Information about what data the app uses is thus of vital importance to consumers. With this added level of transparency, providers now have an incentive to compete with one another on favorable privacy conditions. It is critical that consumers have this information before using an app. With that information, consumers will be more in control of their privacy. Within ICPEN, ACM, together with the Norwegian and British consumer authorities, have been among the leading proponents of this change.”

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