Privacy Watchdog Brings Popular Exercise and Healthcare Apps into Compliance with Digital Advertising Best Practices
For Immediate Release
Arlington, VA – July 8, 2020 – BBB National Programs’ privacy watchdog, the Digital Advertising Accountability Program (DAAP), today released two new data privacy cases for popular mobile apps from GoodRx and Rock My World, issuing recommendations and outlining actions taken to date to bring these companies into compliance with the Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory Principles.
As a result of DAAP’s in-house technical monitoring of the mobile app marketplace and the open web, GoodRx, the creator of the eponymous price-tracking app that offers free prescription prices and coupons, and Rock My World, the publisher of the music and exercise app Rock My Run, each updated their privacy disclosures to meet interest-based advertising data privacy requirements.
DAAP identified digital ad companies on the GoodRx website collecting cookie data for possible interest-based advertising purposes. DAAP extended its network traffic analysis of GoodRx to its app and found that mobile device identifiers were collected by third-party ad partners of GoodRx. At this point DAAP reached out to GoodRx, informing the app creator of steps it would need to take to make these practices compliant and fair to website and app users.
GoodRx swiftly implemented all DAAP’s recommendations to make information about its privacy practices more accessible, including:
Incorporating an up-front “enhanced notice” link on every page where third parties collect cookie data on GoodRx’s website, which leads directly to a description of this activity and a link to industry-developed opt-out tools.
Adding a jump link to the top of its privacy policy that mobile device users can follow to learn more about GoodRx’s advertising practices.
Adding a statement of adherence to the DAA Principles to its privacy disclosures.
DAAP conducts testing of popular mobile apps available on major platforms, sending letters to app publishers where it finds a gap in compliance with best privacy practices. After receiving a DAAP inquiry letter about third parties collecting mobile device identifiers through its app, Rock My World followed DAAP’s recommendations to comply with behavioral advertising data privacy requirements.
Rock My World updated its privacy policy to add a notice about targeted advertising that includes a privacy opt-out tool and ensured that users receive “enhanced notice” of third-party data collection by adding a jump-link to the top of its privacy policy pointing users to this disclosure. In addition, Rock My World disabled the collection of precise location data from its app to ensure that third parties do not receive this sensitive data.
Today’s case release represents DAAP’s 119th public action since the program began its self-regulatory mission in 2011.
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