Government Accountability Office Calls for Protection of Consumers From Mobile Tracking
A report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recommends that the U.S. government work with stakeholders to create guidelines to protect consumer privacy and prevent companies from sharing their location information without the consumers’ permission. The GAO’s report found that consumers are mostly oblivious about mobile app developers and wireless carriers sharing or selling their location-based data to third parties. Though industry groups and privacy advocates have recommended guidelines, companies have largely ignored them. While there’s little chance that this will becoming anything substantial this year, it could be reason to pull back some of the optimism regarding mobile advertising. (Adweek)
