The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has released Mobile privacy: A better practice guide for mobile app developers.

The OAIC has developed this guide to help mobile device application (app) developers embed better privacy practices in their products and services, and help developers that are operating in the Australian market to comply with Australian privacy law and best practice.

Many of the practices outlined in the guide may also assist advertising networks, advertisers, mobile platform providers, app developer trade associations and developers of other (non-mobile) applications.

The OAIC’s recommendations include:

• you should adopt a ‘privacy by design’ (PBD) approach. PBD aims at building privacy and data protection up front, into the design specifications and architecture of information and communication systems and technologies, in order to facilitate compliance with privacy and data protection principles
• app developers should select the right strategy to convey privacy rules in a way that is meaningful on the small screen, including ‘short form notices’, with important points up front and links to more detailed explanations, and a privacy dashboard that displays a user’s privacy settings and provides a convenient means of changing them
• putting in place appropriate safeguards to protect the personal information you are handling.

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