14 DAY TRIAL // Kids Best iPad Apps is encouraging parents to carefully review the apps they install on their kids’ tablets via a handy site that enables them to see if an app is collecting information from their children.
The site conducted a study this month and found that only 104 out of 440 kids apps include the rather mandatory App Store link to a privacy policy.
While only a few had them, the links also didn’t always connect to a privacy policy.
“Each app's promotion page was checked on the App Store. If a privacy policy link was listed in the App Store, the link was followed to determine if it led to a privacy policy,” says the firm.
Citing the Federal Trade Commission’s recent expansion of the Children's Online Privacy Policy Act (COPPA) to apps, Kids Best iPad Apps says, “This rule puts procedures in place requiring companies to get parental approval before collecting online information from kids under 13.”
The problem is the act doesn’t go into effect until this summer.
“Why wait?” says Kids Best iPad Apps CEO Mitchell Cogert. “Parents can visit our site today and find out if an app is collecting information from their kids.”
The site designed a special logo to highlight the apps that do have a privacy policy set in place. The logo also links to the app's actual privacy policy for parents to visit.
“Given the importance of this issue, our site has stopped reviewing apps without a published privacy policy,” said Cogert. “Parents need reassurance that developers are not taking advantage of an app's access to their children.”
Cogert reportedly contacted some developers about the issue and found that “they are so busy creating the next great kids app, they haven't even thought about a privacy policy.”
Cogert noted that the situation is especially worrisome among US-based developers.