Following reports that apps on both Apple and Google mobile systems are (or at one time were) capable of stealing photos and contact details, US senator Charles Schumer has urged that country’s Federal Trade Commission to instigate an investigation.
Schumer, a democrat, spoke out on Sunday about recent reports of compromised mobile privacy, reports Reuters. In a letter to the FTC, he wrote:
“These uses go well beyond what a reasonable user understands himself to be consenting to when he allows an app to access data on the phone for purposes of the app’s functionality.”
He added that “smartphone makers should be required to put in place safety measures to ensure third party applications are not able to violate a user’s personal privacy by stealing photographs or data that the user did not consciously decide to make public”.
As Schumer sees it, Apple and Google have an obligation to protect the private content of their customers. “When someone takes a private photo, on a private cell phone, it should remain just that: private”. [Reuters]