Mobile Marketing Privacy Guidelines
Given that 35% of Americans own a smart phone, mobile marketing is growing at a tremendous rate, creating a number of consumer privacy concerns. The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) has released a set of privacy policy guidelines in an effort to encourage a precedent of self regulation and satisfy legislators. Media Post reported three particular areas of concern covered in these guidelines: the collection of location data, the sharing of personal information with third parties, and unclear opting out policies.
The guidelines state that consumers should have the information of how the data is collected and what it is used for written at a level that the average consumer can understand. Addressing the issue of sharing personal data with third parties, the MMA strongly suggests that consumers be made aware of to where and how the data is shared. The MMA guidelines also state that users should fully understand opting out policies for everything from uninstalling the application to opting out of giving information to help the implementation of targeted advertising campaigns.
In the end, these guidelines should be helpful to marketers rather than constraining. These guidelines take the first step in allowing mobile marketing to become a more accepted marketing platform, which in turn should increase its effectiveness and usefulness for both consumers and marketers.
