US-based Google, Inc. and Apple, Inc. reportedly defended their privacy practices during a US Senate hearing on May 10, 2011. The hearing, 'Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy,' followed revelations by British researchers and the Wall Street Journal that the iPhone and Android smartphones may transmit user location data to Apple and Google, respectively.
Google was represented by its Director of Public Policy, Alan Davidson, and Apple by its Vice President of software, "Bud" Tribble. Both executives emphasised that their users had the ability to control the collection and use of location-related data gathered by their smartphones. The hearing of the newly created Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law, sought to examine the situation of the privacy landscape as regards the mobile sphere.
Senator Al Franken pressed Tribble hard on the issue of whether or not iPhones do or do not track location. The hearing also focused on the vast ecosystem of third-party applications that populate both the iPhone and Android ecosystems. Such third-party apps are seen to often gain access to location related and other personally identifiable data. They may also be able to share the information without having to tell the consumer they are doing so, it is feared.
Senator Chuck Schumer also grilled both companies about their policies regarding how apps are approved for their respective stores, focusing on apps that provide information about where sobriety checkpoints are located.
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