A4 Refereed article in a conference publication
Examining Privacy Statements of Mobile Applications Popular Among University Students
Authors: Rajapaksha, Sammani; Puhtila, Panu; Heino, Timi; Rauti, Sampsa
Editors: Rocha, Alvaro; Ferrás, Carlos; Calvo, Hiram
Conference name: International Conference on Information Technology and Systems
Publisher: Springer Nature Switzerland
Publication year: 2025
Journal:: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems
Book title : Information Technology and Systems: ICITS 2025, Volume 1
Volume: 1447
First page : 111
Last page: 126
ISBN: 978-3-031-93108-6
eISBN: 978-3-031-93109-3
ISSN: 2367-3370
eISSN: 2367-3389
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-93109-3_10
Web address : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-93109-3_10
In this paper, we study the data protection sections (DPS) used in 20 applications available at the Apples’ App Store, and compare them to the privacy policies (PP) these same applications present, to determine whether there are discrepancies between the two. As the DPS is often the first and only privacy statement the user reads, our aim is to establish whether it expresses the extent of data collection happening in the application in a truthful manner. On the other hand, we are also assessing the extent of data collection happening in these applications to determine whether it is justified considering the nature of the applications. Our sample applications have been chosen based on popularity among media studies students at the University of Turku, gauged by a survey we conducted. Our findings indicate that there are discrepancies between DPSs and PPs, in addition to which majority of the applications we examined collect data on a concerning scale, ranging from personal phone contacts of the users and health information to location data. Often the justifications or purposes for this data collection are opaque and obscure, at best.
Funding information in the publication:
This research has been funded by Academy of Finland project 327397, IDA – Intimacy in Data-Driven Culture.
