Violation of mobile privacy: US senator urges FTC to investigate Apple's and Google's privacy settings regarding mobile apps

The Federal Trade Commission has been asked to start an investigation on Apple and Google to get to the truth about their privacy settings when it comes to third party apps having access to an individual’s mobile photos. The man behind this project is US Senator Charles Schumer, who firmly believes, “Smartphone developers have an obligation to protect the private content of their users.” The public can never be too cautious as just last month it was revealed that iOS apps were uploading users’ entire address books without their direct permission. Currently, Apple apps have access to a person’s data only after the user gives the app permission to configure his or her location. Google’s Android apps on the other hand, can get a hold of a person’s data as soon as that person gives the app permission to connect to the Internet. While Apple’s ‘authorization’ process is a little more secure than Android’s, neither is meticulous enough in dealing with its consumers’ privacy.