Power to the Privacy

Today’s smartphones have expanded upon the basic capability of vocal communication, into an ever-expanding realm of applications, social networking, tangible purchases, researching, and the list goes on. Web access has brought about a redefinition of what a phone has become, more broadly, a mobile device. Much research has been done on individual users in the attempt to understand and remedy current concerns of online personal privacy. In this paper I will briefly summarize the prominent concerns found in these studies, while also touching on new technology that will surely complicate the meaning of online privacy, and finally, the strides being made by policy-makers in the FCC and Congress in an effort to empower mobile users and protect their rights.

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The most used mobile devices as of late are the Apple iPhone, Google Android and Blackberry (though it is rapidly losing ground).(U.S. 2012) Everywhere you turn a new mobile device is being released to an eagerly awaiting consumer audience. Our culture is both shaping our mobile device usage patterns and being shaped by our usage. Everyday users tap into the web during transit from point A to B, while waiting for the elevator or, more simply, to ward off boredom during down-time; affecting our social interactions in more ways than we’d like to think. (Boase 2006) Our busy, stop and go lifestyles are conducive to snippet surfing on the web with nothing else than our convenient mobile devices.

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This isn’t the case for just Americans. Around the world people are increasingly using their mobile device as their primary web accessing tool. Altogether there is roughly 87% of the world’s population now using mobile devices. In previous years China and India have been adding mobile device subscribers at a breathtaking rate and now account for 30% of worldwide mobile market.(Global 2012)

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Privacy issues online rank as the primary concern of all internet users today, along with the idea of being tracked for web surfing or buying habits. When researchers polled U.S. mobile users eighteen and older to get an idea of what users wanted done about privacy issues involving advertising, 85% were in support of having the personal power to control whether they wanted to be susceptible to targeted mobile ads or not. Along with these responses was data regarding the availability of their geo-location. Nearly 80% of users do not want geo-location data collected or shared with application owners and developers. Yet the user is tied to these applications through social networking sites that are becoming ever-more dependent on them.(Mobile 2011)

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The issues revolving around geo-location data is picking up speed as new technology is being developed. Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is predicted to be in use within the next few years. It enables mobile device users to use their device as ID credentials, such as; bus passes, hotel room keys, debit/credit cards, or even driver’s licenses. Just a tap of your mobile device to a door key scanner or a checkout scanner and you’re on your way. No cards, keys, or tickets needed. NFC technology is both extremely convenient and potentially invasive.

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NFC technology requires the user to invest their personal credentials and daily routines to the financial institutions that issued the digital card. We have created a perfectly laid out timeline of our consumer activities. Our identity, location and consumer habits are relayed every time we use our mobile device. The ease of “checking in” to locations on social network sites would create an abundance of lifestyle maps, and done completely voluntarily. The developers foresaw these privacy complications and enabled NFC apps to operate even without the device’s communication functions turned on, thus stopping any transmission of your transactions or daily habits to the card-issuing institution. In this way the user has control through selective disclosure of their whereabouts and day-to-day patterns, but to get the most bang for your buck it’s recommended that you let the program keep collecting information about you. (Ashour 2011)

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While patrons of mobile devices express whelming uneasiness with current advertising techniques, many do not read, or for that matter understand the privacy policies that accompany their mobile devices. Murky terminology and long-winded clauses depress most average users from attempting this feat beyond a quick flip through. The outcry for readable, plain-spoken and concise privacy agreements navigated with ease has risen with the growth of online social networking sites.(Berman 2012) A sense of vulnerability and intrusion has taken hold as people are becoming dependent on their mobile devices for daily interactions and transactions, from personal to business. No longer can users simply detour around privacy protection by not using a mobile device for serious matters. The clear consensus of the people – the time has come for policy change.

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As facts have surfaced concerning information gathering practices and the distribution of that information by internet institutions, the everyday user must be aware of their rights and limitations. While population usage rises the legal ramifications have come under scrutiny by governments, activist groups and individuals.

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Though the Privacy Act of 1974 has gone through amendments and revaluations, the essence of its importance is still clear. Personal information related to internet surfing or purchasing that is gathered by private or government agencies cannot be disclosed to other parties without the consumer’s knowledge.

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The Federal Trade Commission has been facilitating the narrowing, shaping or changing of online privacy policies by hosting ongoing workshops in the capital that invite industry representatives, consumer groups and members of the academic community to air their desires and outline recommendations and policy acts to Congress. In 2011 the Restore Online Shoppers’ Confidence Act  was passed by Congress, the president and the Senate. This act was chiefly created to protect consumers from “data passing;” consumers unknowingly authorize a merchant to distribute personal payment information to another merchant for a different online transaction without the user even entering their information again. It also required advertising groups to create plain-spoken privacy agreements that are transparent enough for consumers to navigate through with comfort and confidence, moreover thorough enough to prevent inadvertent purchases of goods or services otherwise hidden within the payment process.(Restore 2011)

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The Mobile Device Privacy Act is the latest in efforts to maximize mobile device privacy. Tracking software, particularly Carrier IQ which was installed on some 150 million mobile phones, have been collecting a vast amount of diverse user information in order, they claim, to enhance the user’s online experience. Yet when questioned further about the consumer benefit of this tracking the answers were ambiguous and left much to question about the validity of this invasion of privacy This information collected included detailed accounts of where, when and to what numbers calls and texts were sent and received, application deployment, battery life, CPU output and cell-site connectivity. Carrier IQ has recently been dropped by Sprint and Apple, but similar software is still being used on other devices. (Brodkin 2012)

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The Mobile Device Privacy Act, if passed, would require cellular carriers to divulge tracking software installed by the carrier, manufacturer or OS provider on any user’s device at the time of purchase or in the future. Once the consumer has been informed the only way to collect their information is with their explicit consent, although that doesn’t mean that the users can completely block themselves off from data collection. This act is essentially putting all of the gathered information on the table and allowing users to view the data being recorded about them, but does nothing to change the methods of information gathering already in place. (Kravets 2012) This kind of transparency may lead to further policy changes when users are able to fully appreciate the extent of personal data gathering, though for now, these processes are largely ambiguous or underestimated.

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The country seems to be headed in the right direction, yet it there’s still a host of valuable statistical findings of user’s buying habits, interests and social networking patterns that have been gathered in the midst of this booming age of mobile devices. Information like this is invaluable to industries steeped in targeting their audience with pinpoint accuracy in order to keep advertising costs at a minimum. (Krishnamurthy 2011) Without it a “blank slate user” would be bombarded with a smattering of off-putting, inapplicable advertisements that is nothing more than an annoyance.

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If done responsibly and with the consumer’s explicit consent, advertising targeting can supply mobile users with products, prices or options otherwise unknown, while remaining specific to their buying tendencies. For many, though, this perimeter of responsible information gathering has overstepped the bounds of personal privacy rights and they want control over their own information. Privacy is no longer accepted as an extra feature or customized setting; it must be integrated into every device’s and program’s design. Although the road is being paved slowly, personal data will one day be entirely controlled by the individual – user convenience and privacy are within sight.

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