With the increased use of mobile devices, parts of both the healthcare and marketing sectors are offering ways to increase user awareness of the privacy and security of personal information by offering best practice guidance and recommendations for user-friendly language in policy statements.
As part of its Privacy and Security Mobile Device project, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s Office of the Chief Privacy Officer, together with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights, is
“good practices” to increase health information security on mobile devices.
The project builds on the existing
. “There have been a number of security incidents,” states the security rule, “related to the use of laptops, other portable and/or mobile devices and external hardware that store, contain or are used to access Electronic Protected Health Information under the responsibility of a HIPAA-covered entity.”
In addition to providing privacy and security “good practices,” the project
to communicate its findings to healthcare professionals in streamlined and readable text.
HHS officials are also looking for input and will be hosting a roundtable on the subject in the coming months.
Similarly, after receiving industry input during a public comment period that ended last November, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), a mobile industry trade association, has released finalized
that provide developers with a framework to promote more secure user experiences.
The MMA states that more than 58 percent of U.S. mobile device users are concerned about unauthorized access to their personal information.
MMA Global CEO Greg Stuart
, “Mobile app developers asked for clear, transparent policy language that consumers can quickly and fully understand.” The release, he says, is “the first in a series of privacy policy guidelines that the MMA is creating with input from industry leaders” to give “the app development community the meaningful support they need.”
The MMA Mobile Application Privacy Policy guidelines offer streamlined recommendations revolving around “core privacy principles” and easy-to-read language for consumers. Among their suggestions, the guidelines offer ways to educate consumers on how their data is collected and used as well as ways to appropriately secure the collected data.
In a statement, MMA Privacy & Advocacy Committee Co-Chair Alan Chapell, CIPP/US, said, “Our guidelines offer developers the foundation from which to craft a document that reflects the privacy practices of each of their apps and helps them stay in compliance with applicable law and industry standards,” adding, “We urge app developers to consult with their legal counsel when adapting these guidelines for their purposes.”
