By John D. McKinnon 

WASHINGTON -- House lawmakers sent letters Monday to the chief executives of Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. seeking answers about how they handle smartphone users' personal data, including location data.

The letters show that privacy concerns in Washington have spread beyond Facebook Inc., which has been in regulators' and lawmakers' crosshairs this past year over the sharing of user information with a data-analytics firm that had ties to the Donald Trump presidential campaign.

In the letters, House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders said recent media reports and other information have raised questions about the companies' practices.

The lawmakers' letter to Alphabet CEO Larry Page said recent reports indicate that its Android smartphone operating system collects extensive user-location data and reports it back to Alphabet's Google unit even when locations services are disabled.

Considering that many consumers likely believe that their phones aren't actively tracking them when the location services are turned off, "this alleged behavior is troubling," according to the letter, which was signed by Chairman Greg Walden (R., Ore.) as well as three subcommittee chairmen, Reps. Gregg Harper (R., Miss.), Marsha Blackburn (R., Tenn.) and Robert Latta (R., Ohio).

The letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook raised fewer issues, but posed similar questions about whether Apple smartphones collect and transmit extensive location data. The letter says that Mr. Cook's statements and Apple's actions "raise questions about how Apple device users' data is protected and when it is shared and compiled."

Both letters also noted that some recent media reports have suggested that smartphones in general can and sometimes do collect extensive audio data that can be accessed by third parties, even when users might not be talking to the phone's virtual assistant.

The letters seek detailed information about the companies' practices, particularly when it comes to tracking users' locations, collecting audio data from users' conversations and sharing their data with third parties, such as app developers.

The letter to Alphabet also raised questions concerning a report last week in The Wall Street Journal that Google continues to allow third parties to access content of users' emails, even though the company itself said last year it would halt scanning the contents of emails to "keep privacy and security paramount."

In a Google blog post last week, the company said: "Transparency and control have always been core data privacy principles, and we're constantly working to ensure these principles are reflected in our products."

Apple says it has aimed to protect user privacy by encrypting some sensitive information such as iMessages and randomizing other information it gathers such as map navigation so that it can't be linked to an individual's device.

In an aim to bolster user privacy, the company last month issued new rules for apps available on its App Store, saying apps that access users' photos and contact lists can't use that information to build databases. However, the new rules also raised concerns that the company's previous policies contained loopholes allowing apps to collect and resell sensitive information such as photo locations, privacy advocates say.

Agencies including the Federal Trade Commission already are investigating Facebook, and some privacy groups have called for other technology companies' practices to be probed as well.

The letters also dial up pressure on major tech firms to tell lawmakers and the public more about their privacy practices.

The Energy and Commerce Committee has been urging other firms to send their CEOs to testify at a hearing about their practices. But so far, no hearing has been scheduled.

The letters mark the first time that the committee has queried companies besides Facebook concerning specific consumer-privacy issues. The committee has been looking more broadly at other topics, including the use of algorithms for a number of services such as content sharing.

Write to John D. McKinnon at john.mckinnon@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 09, 2018 14:27 ET (18:27 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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