Lawmakers Press Alphabet and Apple on Smartphone Users' Privacy
July 09 2018 - 2:42PM
Dow Jones News
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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