The eager Chairman of the Senate’s Privacy, Technology and Law subcommittee, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), didn’t waste time following up with Apple and Google after their May 9th hearing on mobile privacy hearing on mobile privacy. Last week, Franken sent a letter to Chief Apple Executive, Steve Jobs, and Google CEO, Larry Page, inquiring about instituting a universal privacy policy for all applications on their respective iOS and Android platforms. Though technical upgrades have since solved the problem, Apple currently faces government injunctions in France, Germany and Italy related to the highly-publicized, iOS 4 mobile-security scandal; unbeknownst to users, location data was being collected and stored. In other words, European countries bound to strict Safe Harbor privacy laws are gunning for the U.S. tech corporations. Following suit, officials on the home-front are also beginning to investigate Apple’s and Google’s mobile ...

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Online privacy is the U.S. Government’s issue du jour. In recent months, several legislators have submitted bi-partisan proposals that endeavor to establish a federal online privacy law. But while representatives in the Congress, Senate and White House are exhibiting a united front, technology corporations are lobbying hard to squash universal privacy initiatives, citing unnecessary costs and bureaucratic red-tape as the biggest deterrents. The latest elected official to tackle online privacy is West Virginia Senator, Jay Rockefeller (D). On May 9th, to the praise of privacy and consumer advocate groups, Rockefeller released his “Do Not Track Act of 2011″. Earnest in his pursuit, the senator also sent a stern letter to Google and Apple questioning the respective companies’ mobile application security and privacy procedures. At a Senate hearing last week, the mega-tech corporations presented their answers. Apple’s Response to Senate’s Mobile ...

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Paranoid about Apple or Google tracking everywhere you go? Senator Al Franken thinks you should be, and has introduced a bill in the Senate to regulate geolocation tracking technology, known as the Location Privacy Protection Act, or simply S. 1223. Currently, when you buy an Apple iPhone or Google Android, Apple and Google have the ability to make your phone transmit your location to them. When combined with knowledge about your age, gender, and other information that may be collected from you, and aggregated with similar data from millions of other smartphone users, such technology makes for a powerful marketing tool. But it also raises some privacy concerns. Do people really want smartphone providers to know where they are at all times? Are most customers even aware that they’re being tracked? How many people would volunteer to be tracked like ...

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So, your business wants to launch a mobile advertising campaign. Since a mobile advertising campaign is nothing more than a bunch of text messages that can be sent at will to anybody at any time, it should be a breeze, right? Wrong! This line of thinking can get your mobile advertising company into more trouble than you can imagine. There are certain laws and regulations governed by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) that pertain to advertising – even mobile advertising. These laws and regulations must be followed to keep your mobile marketing business in compliance with the FTC and FCC in order to avoid an investigation or litigation brought against your business. Here are some things mobile marketers should not ignore: · contest and promotion rules · GAPP – Generally Accepted Privacy Practices · complaints ...

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While the teams of the NFC West didn’t put together as many touchdown drives during the 2010 NFL season as their opponents, there’s a different type of NFC that’s rushing ahead that’s sure to run up the score (read: higher volume of sales) for businesses across the globe – Near Field Communications. Near field communications (NFC), wireless application protocol (WAP), short messaging service (SMS) – better known as texting – all classify as means for mobile payments – using your mobile phone to pay for gas, groceries, tickets to an NFL game, or anything else under the sun. Mobile payments are a rapidly growing method of payment with the constant evolution of technology. Think of how the volume of credit cards issued has expanded over the past 15 years. Mobile payment transactions have the potential to outpace credit card transactions ...

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We’ve all been guilty of the act at some point, but driving while dialing is genuinely dangerous. Some studies suggest it’s as hazardous as drinking and driving. Let’s be honest, though, squeezing in phone calls while driving is convenient. So, to accommodate our shared preference for driving while talking, most jurisdictions enacted laws which allowed for hands-free phone device use. But it looks like a recent New Jersey appellate court ruling rendered that state’s cell phone driving statues ineffective. New Jersey’s “Driving While Dialing” Statue New Jersey’s hands-free, mobile phone driving statue expressly allows for “the use of either hand to activate, deactivate or initiate a function of the telephone.” In other words, in New Jersey, you’re allowed, while driving, to hold your phone in one hand in order to turn it on, off or dial. State v. Malone One ...

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