Facebook has joined six other mobile application platform companies by signing an agreement to post clear privacy statements for the millions of Facebook users who access social applications through the site, according to a statement released Friday.
The social networking site joined Amazon, Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft and Research In Motion by signing the Joint Statement of Principles, an agreement established in February by Attorney General Kamala Harris. The agreement represents a commitment that mobile applications comply with the California Online Privacy Protection Act, which requires sites collecting personal information to clearly post a privacy policy for consumers.
"We are very pleased that Facebook has incorporated the Principles into the design of the App Center and that Facebook requires, as a condition of participating in the App Center, that developers submit a link to a privacy policy," Harris wrote in a letter to Facebook. "We are also pleased to see that Facebook is prominently displaying the link to an app’s privacy policy in the App Center, and is implementing a means to report and remediate privacy issues."
The Joint Statement of Principles agreement will protect consumer information that can be transmitted through a mobile device, such as location, contacts, identity and pictures. Application developers who do not comply with privacy policies can be prosecuted under the California Unfair Competition Law or the False Advertising Law.
Facebook released a statement Friday announcing that the Facebook App Center would abide by the agreement as well as participate in an Advisory Group on Mobile Privacy Practices organized by Harris’s office and the California Office of Privacy Protection, according to Harris’ office.
