Mobile-phone marketers apparently read the Wall Street Journal.

From Tuesday’s edition:

Cellphone Marketers Plan Rules on Privacy

Facing growing public concern about privacy breaches, a lobby representing mobile-phone advertisers and publishers called for guidelines to better protect smartphone users from intrusive tracking technologies.

The Mobile Marketing Association said Monday it would begin work on a “comprehensive set of mobile privacy guidelines” to help marketers and phone users navigate the rapidly changing landscape.

That action comes two days after the Journal first reported on dozens of popular smartphone apps that “send information about the phones and their users to outside companies, often without alerting the user.” The Journal also reported that individuals can’t really do anything to block the tracking.

But the MMA says it will develop guidelines so that “marketers know how to act and consumers know what to expect.”

I’ve got plenty of eight-to-five we won’t know the half of it.


John R. Carroll is media analyst for NPR's Here & Now and senior news analyst for WBUR in Boston. He also writes at Campaign Outsider and It's Good to Live in a Two-Daily Town.
John R. Carroll has 305 post(s) on Sneak Adtack