A new day, yet another audit about the state of privacy policies. This time it’s the MEF [document removed by target page] (a global community for mobile content & commerce) that shares their findings in a Spotlight on Mobile Privacy Policies [document removed by target page]. The research follows MEF’s Global Privacy Report from earlier in 2013 which revealed that 70% per cent of consumers say it’s important to know exactly what personal information is being collected and shared.
The MEF has published their analysis into how the top 100 free mobile apps* inform consumers about their use of personal data. MEF’s latest audit examined when and how a privacy policy was made available; the language used and its length. More than a quarter (28%) of the top 100 apps available from the App Store and Google Play still don’t have a privacy policy.
Here are some of their key findings:
– Only one in two apps (55%) offer a privacy policy prior to download in the app store
– Only a third (32%) offer access to the policy within the app
– 69% of privacy policies are written in long form (more than 750 words)
The average policy length was found to be 3,068 words, taking 12 minutes to read (an average ability adult reader can read 250 words per minute). The longest privacy policy was 8,124 words which would take 32 minutes to read. Only 8% were written in less than 750 words. That is just one of the reasons why iubenda’s privacy policies have a simplified and extended view.
In adition to the sharing of their findings, MEF has produced and published a great infograph depicting the state of privacy policies among the top 100 free apps, you can view it in its full shape here.
Via MEF [document removed by target page].
