Mobile phone users have no real idea how their data is being used – Ward

Phone users are largely unaware of how their data is being used after they sign up to apps online and this must change, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Deputy Barry Ward is contributing to the RTÉ Prime Time Investigates programme this evening in relation to the sharing of data from mobile phone apps and has expressed serious concern about the extent to which ordinary citizens are giving real and informed consent about the sharing of their data with third parties.

Deputy Ward said that he was shocked and appalled regarding the extent to which a third party could gather information about somebody, simply through location data shared through a mobile app.

“I am now calling on the Government to put in place legislation to protect app users from unknowingly giving consent for their data to be used, without their knowledge, by a third party, to the extent that it allows those third parties to identify them, to track them, and to get significant information about their personal circumstances”, he said.

“I cannot see how it is in accordance with data protection regulations that an app provider can gather data from an app user, even with his or her permission and then sell it on wholesale without any conditions or safeguards to a third party. This may be to groups in any country, including bad actors in countries that we know are harvesting data to be used against us.

“We all use apps because they make our daily lives easier and more efficient. When we sign up to them, we are asked to approve terms and conditions that sometimes run up to tens of pages full of complex legalese that nobody can properly understand. If app providers actually wanted consent from people for the sharing of their data, they would ask for it directly instead of hiding it in paragraphs of incomprehensible contract jargon.

“We need to put in place a regime that allows for real and informed consent by app users so that they know what permissions they are giving so they are not hoodwinked into sharing detailed personal data with unknown third parties,” concluded Deputy Ward.