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On May 22, 2019, a federal district court largely denied a facial challenge by Disney, Viacom, and several online advertising networks to claims alleging these defendants violated the privacy rights of children by collecting data through online gaming apps.

In McDonald v. Kiloo APS,[1] the defendants consisted of two groups: the developers who created the gaming apps and made them available for download, and the mobile advertising and app monetization companies who provided software code inserted into the gaming apps to collect user data for advertising purposes. The defendants allegedly collected a variety of data from the children’s devices without appropriate consent, including the IP address; the specific device name; IDs for Apple and Android devices; the device’s International Mobile Equipment Identity; the timestamp at which an advertising event was recorded; and device fingerprint data (the user’s language, time zone, country, and mobile network).Continue Reading Federal Court Allows Children’s Online Privacy Claims Against Disney, Viacom, and Online Ad Networks That Collected Data from Gaming Apps to Go Forward

In August 2014, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a staff report that evaluates the consumer disclosures made by a number of popular mobile shopping applications and makes recommendations to the providers and users of those apps.1 The FTC staff did not address or find any fault with app platforms, like Google Play or Apple’s App Store, with respect to the consumer disclosures of those apps. This report follows the FTC staff’s March 2013 mobile payment report that recommended mobile payment providers convey clear policies regarding fraudulent and unauthorized charges, encouraged all stakeholders to raise consumer awareness about mobile payment security, and stressed the applicability of its general privacy recommendations to companies in the mobile payment marketplace.2
Continue Reading FTC Recommends Improved Transparency and Security in Mobile Shopping Apps