Mobile Apps: No Surprises, Please

Widely applicable rules regarding consumer privacy disclosures in our increasingly mobile world are only now emerging. Government agencies, individual states, and professional associations are all weighing in on how mobile app developers should disclose how they collect, store, use, and protect the wide range of highly personal data being collected every day.

The Application Privacy, Protection, and Security Act of 2013, better known as the APPS Act, is intended to bring conformity to the unwieldy world of mobile app development. With a divided Congress struggling to pass even mandatory legislation, though, passage of any type of discretionary legislation this year seems unlikely, says D. Reed Freeman Jr., a partner with Morrison & Foerster in Washington, D.C. In the meantime, Freeman says, developers should focus on the Federal Trade Commission, "because even without congressional action, it has broad jurisdiction, and it has already brought cases and issued