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“The mobile world is expanding and innovating at breathtaking speed, allowing consumers to do things that would have been hard to imagine only a few years ago,” recently resigned FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said in a statement accompanying the report. “These best practices will help to safeguard consumer privacy and build trust in the mobile marketplace, ensuring that the market can continue to thrive.”

The report is based on a workshop convened in May 2012 to elicit recommendations from players in different parts of the consumer mobile industry on how to better prioritize users’ privacy.

Among its findings, the FTC said 57 percent of app users have either didn’t install or uninstalled an app because they didn’t want to share their personal information, and that “less than one third of Americans” feel like they have control over how their personal information once input into their mobile device.

The next steps

The chief recommendations for mobile platforms owners:

• Ask before accessing a user’s location.
• Ask before accessing contacts, photos, calendar, or recording sound or video.
• Make each app have a “dashboard” that shows users what each app has access to.
• Develop an icon that will show users every time their personal data is being transmitted.
• Offer a Do Not Track option (like Apple’s Limit Ad Tracking feature in iOS) so users can choose to block advertisers, ad networks or developers see how they’re using apps on their phone.

For app makers:

• Make your privacy policy accessible via the app store it’s sold in.
• Ask before accessing personal information.
• Know how ad networks are accessing your users’ info.

For ad networks:

• Communicate how your tracking works to app makers, and help platforms develop Do Not Track tools.

The FTC report came out the same day as the commission came to an $800,000 settlement with iOS app Path over the illegal access of children’s personal information and violation of the Children’s Online Privacy Protections Act (COPPA).

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You can see all recent activity on multiple conversations in the Boards tab.

Updated: Group messaging and conversation apps are everywhere these days, and it seems barely a day goes by before we hear about another major player trying to get in the game, like Skype with its GroupMe acquisition. But despite all the competition, a new entrant with a less-is-more approach and emphasis on privacy might be just what some users (particularly those in business) are looking for. That’s exactly what the new iPhone app Glassboard offers.

Glassboard is the latest from Mac and iOS developer Sepia Labs, run by Brian Brent Simmons, the guy who created popular RSS reader NetNewsWire and desktop blogging tool MarsEdit. The new app is, as mentioned, designed around group messaging with a special focus on privacy. Users of the app create boards to which they can add users via email invites. Glassboard doesn’t plug into any of your social networks, and the only person who can add members to a board is the board’s original creator.

Finding and viewing boards is impossible unless you’re a member, and any content shared won’t be indexed for search. Board creators also have the power to revoke membership and delete boards instead of just leaving the conversation, something that isn’t an option with other messaging apps like Google+’s Huddle, for example.

Threaded replies and likes for messages within conversations is a nice advantage for Glassboard.

Glassboard also has some nice usability advantages over its competitors, including the ability to assign a picture to each board in order to make it much easier to see at a glance which is which. You can also share images in conversations, as well as text, video and location data, and each message posted can be liked or replied to directly via commenting. It adds up to a much more collaboration-oriented experience.

Other options that you might recognize from Facebook Messenger, Google+ Huddle or GroupMe are also present, like the ability to mute conversations individually or globally and whether to receive push notifications, email notices or both. The app also has one limitation that might prove aggravating but that makes sense from the perspective of encouraging growth: You can only create three new boards to start and then you’re granted new boards for each new invitee who joins the system.

With such a crowded field, Glassboard might have a tough time achieving mainstream success, but it might need to. Its primary appeal, from my perspective, is as an easy way for workplace teams who depend on mobile devices to stay in touch (like a small distributed sales force, for example) and collaborate without having to worry about distraction from their social networks. Glassboard is also available on Android and Windows Phone 7 platforms too, so using it doesn’t depend on what kind of mobile device your teammates are using.

Ed: A previous version of this article incorrectly identified Brent Simmons as Brian Simmons.

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Sen. Franken kicked off the hearing by assuring those in attendance that the aim of the proceedings was not to bring an end to location services. Instead, Franken suggested that the purpose of the discussions was to ensure customers are protected as we move forward with mobile technology.

Limited Responsibility Surrounding Data Sharing

The first panel — which included Jessica Rich, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, and Jason Weinstein, deputy assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice — addressed existing legal and legislative consumer protections and what gaps need to be filled to ensure better consumer protection.

Weinstein noted that once companies have access to consumer info (once permission is granted to Apple to use your location info, for instance), there are currently no legal restrictions in place to prevent that data from being shared with other third-party businesses (there are, however, restrictions preventing unjustified sharing with government agencies). He also noted that federal law does not currently require a company to disclose a data breach, such as the one recently experienced by Sony, and that we need regulations governing both of these situations.

When to Gather Info, and How to Make Users Aware

Rich emphasized tackling consumer privacy concerns early on in product design. She stressed that companies should gather only the minimum necessary amount of information and keep it only when absolutely necessary. She also expressed a need for clearer privacy agreements that users could more easily understand. Rich also suggested that visual cues such as icons could be used to make clear what’s being shared when.

Tribble echoed that statement during the second panel. He suggested that, rather than requiring individual apps to provide privacy policies that users must read and agree to before they install the app, Apple preferred that apps use icons to indicate what information is being shared when. As an example, he cited the arrow that appears in an iPhone’s menu bar when location services are being actively used.

The problem with this system is that it has to make compromises so that it doesn’t confuse the user or clutter the interface. Sen. Franken asked Tribble why Apple didn’t make users aware of all info being shared with apps (like calendar and address book data), instead of just location data. Tribble said that Apple felt location data was particularly sensitive, and that creating notices and visual cues for each type of data would quickly overwhelm the device UI.

Franken suggested that Apple implement a system whereby users are presented with a screen that shows a user all the info an app will be sharing, which is what Google Android does. When asked, Davidson admitted that it did indeed work for Google. Tribble didn’t respond.

A Starting Point for Transparency

Despite lots of back-and-forth between the tech giant representatives and senators, the star of the show was arguably Ashkan Soltani, an independent researcher who has worked with The Wall Street Journal  on mobile privacy investigations. Soltani cut through the political posturing and corporate deflections to clearly articulate what’s needed for mobile privacy regulation: more transparency and better definition of the concepts involved.

Soltani pointed out that not only are consumers repeatedly surprised by the information apps and platforms have access to, but platform providers themselves are also occasionally caught off guard by info they’re gathering (he cited Google’s problems with collecting Wi-Fi info during Street View surveys, and Apple’s location storage cache). Platforms need to take adequate steps to make absolutely clear (to themselves and to users) what information is being gathered at any given time, and for what purpose. The concern, according to Soltani, is that there is no mechanism for Apple devices to disclose to users that it can share customer info with anyone once it has permission to gather it.

According to Soltani, we should focus on making clear what mobile privacy involves on the level of even the wording used to describe it. How exactly do you define “opt-in?” Is it enough to provide users with a pre-checked checkbox? Isn’t that better described as “opt-out,” as Sen. Franken suggested at the hearing? Also, how to definite “location” and “anonymized?” Soltani noted that even though Apple says it only gathers anonymized data, since police departments have been able to use that info to identify suspects by associating it with their devices, isn’t it technically not anonymous?

This is likely only the opening salvo of a long and drawn-out process that will ultimately affect how users, platform providers and app developers treat mobile data, including (but not limited to) location data. Political will is there, and judging by the responses made by Apple and Google representatives today, private enterprise is eager to be at the table, too, since allaying customer concerns are in their best interest. Here’s hoping something productive comes of the apparent shared interest in the subject.

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Legislators put together the hearing, named “Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy,” in response to consumer concerns over the use of data shared via their mobile devices. Apple garnered the most recent attention surrounding the issue when researchers publicized the fact that Apple’s iOS devices were keeping a record of users’ general locations.

Senator Al Franken (D-Minn.) issued a public letter calling for answers regarding the company’s privacy practices surrounding location services, and Apple issued an official response shortly thereafter answering said questions. The Mac-maker also noted that it looked forward to the opportunity to clarify these issues by testifying before lawmakers. Apple then released an update earlier this week that makes location information stored on devices more secure, and also changes the cache size so that less data is stored.

Like Apple, Google also makes use of anonymized location data transmitted from Android devices, the company revealed after Apple’s location storage practices came to light. Google will also testify before the Senate committee, via Google Public Policy Director Alan Davidson.

Also in attendance will be Sen. Franken, who will preside over the hearing, as well as Jessica Rich, deputy director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection; and Jason Weinstein, deputy assistant attorney general of the Criminal Division of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, who will act as the hearing’s first panel. Apple and Google will be on the second panel, along with Justin Brookman, director of the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Project on Consumer Privacy; Ashkan Soltani, an independent consultant; and Jonathan Zuck, president of the Association for Competitive Technology.

Apple’s representative Bud Tribble has been with Apple since near the very beginning, having helped design the Mac OS and user interface. He left Apple with Jobs and worked at NeXT as VP of Software Development, and returned to Apple in 2002 after spending some time at Sun Microsystems and Eazel. He is arguably the Apple employee with the most history with Jobs.

As is often the case, technology ran ahead of regulation and clearly defined limits when it comes to location services and other mobile private data concerns. This hearing could be the first step in the creation of regulations or legislation that specifically address those concerns. Apple, Google and others in the industry will be keen to participate in the process in order to attempt to allay lawmaker concerns and keep the space as self-regulated as possible.

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