Facebook is the seventh major company to sign onto California agreement. Under an agreement with California's attorney general, Facebook has agreed strengthen privacy controls for consumers who use online applications on their smartphones, tablets and other electronic devices.
The agreement extends the reach of California’s privacy protections beyond mobile apps to include social apps in Facebook’s App Center, used by millions of consumers worldwide. The agreement is designed to increase compliance with California law requiring apps that collect personal information to have a privacy policy.
“Consumers deserve to be able to make informed choices aboutmhow much personal information they want to share with others when using social apps,” said California Attorney General Kamala Harris. “We are delighted that Facebook has joined Amazon,Apple, Google, Hewlett-Packard,Microsoft, and Research in Motion to provide consumers with greater control and information about how their personal data is used. We need to protect privacy while we foster innovation.”
Harris released a letter from Facebook Chief Privacy Officer Erin Egan announcing the company's decision to adhere to the agreement.
“As you know, the Joint Statement’s principles embodied essential protections for Californians and others who use mobile apps by encouraging companies that provide mobile app markets to give developers the ability to provide a link to their privacy policies and to display those links along with other app details,” Egan wrote. “As we built the App Center, we were guided by the principles contained in the Joint Statement.”