The Apps Law Blog » iPhone

To share or not to share? Legal privacy concerns abound

hotto — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 20:15:30 +0000

The odds are pretty good that if you’re a big consumer of mobile apps, the private information on your phone has been collected and sent somewhere without your knowledge.

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That’s a scary thought for consumers and a tantalizing one for attorneys in the small but growing arena of apps security. San Francisco-based Lookout says in its Apps Genome project report that 1 in 3 free iPhone apps and 3 in 10 free apps on Android access the location of the phone user. The report also says that 14% of iPhone apps extract personal information, as do 8% of Android apps.

Permission may be written into the user agreement, but is it prominent enough? And what assurances do apps makers give that the information will be both protected from hackers and not shared without the user’s permission?

We already have read horror stories about how corporations such as Monster, Second Life and Hell’s Pizza have had their customer databases hacked. While we may feel better that Apple vets its apps, Android apps come from an unrestricted market.

An iPhone has been breached, and so it’s a matter of time before snoopers find their way into the databases of legitimate apps makers and operators. The people who gave permission — and especially the people who did not — may have cause for action. How large could damages be? How well insured or solvent are some apps makers whose software contains flaws? And is there any third-party liability from companies that sell tools for building faulty apps?

Small, inconsequential breaches will likely not produce large damage claims, but could set import precedents for manufacturers, software developers, systems managers and data warehousers. Watch for the full report from Lookout and keep an eye on the dockets.

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Is Apple proprietary or monopolostic with mobile apps?

hotto — Tue, 04 May 2010 19:21:21 +0000

That’s the question floated when addressing the company’s ban of Flash for iPhone and iPad apps. CEO Steve Jobs says that Flash poses a security risk, closed and inappropriate for use on mobile devices. Adobe says that Jobs is being too controlling.

The level of industry and government interest demonstrates how far mobile phone apps have made their way into the consumer market. Companies and software developers aren’t arguing over an unproven technology; mobile apps have generated rich rewards and now the battle is over who gets the money.

U.S. anti-trust regulators are looking into whether Apple is stifling competition by banning Flash from its mobile devices. The Associated Press reported on May 4 that two federal agencies are deciding which of them should lead the investigation.

Beyond the corporate rhetoric, there are implications for Apple. The company could be forced to open up its mobile OS to Flash and other developers. Federal agencies could also look at Apple’s iAd practices and take action there as well. Just as important, federal scrutiny could bolster the fortunes of Flash-friendly phone types such as Google, HTC and the like.

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The buzz surrounding Google Buzz

Eric Seidmon — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 03:33:14 +0000

Google recently entered the social networking universe, unveiling Google Buzz on Feb. 9, 2010. The network runs through Google’s popular Gmail service and allows users to update their status akin to Facebook or Twitter, post photos and link to members of their network. Comments on posts appear in real time and comments by other users will be weighted similar to how Google’s search engine weighs results.

But why sign up for yet another social networking site? Well, Google Buzz is different. It serves as a way to meld social networks in an all-in-one location, pulling the user’s activity from sites such as Twitter, Flickr, and Picasa. Buzz is partly designed to mimic Twitter’s micro-blogging structure. The service also features features privacy settings like those on Facebook, making user content available only to friends, for example.

Google says Buzz will also be available to mobile devices, including the iPhone. Features will include voice-recognition posting and a GPS-enabled ability to attach the user’s location to posts. Other expansions will likely include enabling users to post to Twitter accounts through a Buzz tool.

According to CNN.com, it appears that Google would also like to displace AOL Instant Messenger from its hold as the leading instant messaging service now that the Gchat (aka Google Talk) feature on Gmail has attracted so many users. Buzz plans to target those users is by offering the Buzz feature to companies as a tool for interoffice communication. Google thinks their new program could globally businesses communication.

Google claims the new products are a respond to users’ interests. The company is taking a new approach by socializing the Web, meaning that searches will be as social as the Web itself according to Google’s instructional online video. However, there will be limitations; Facebook users whose profiles are private will not be viewable via Buzz.

It will be interesting to see how Google Wave will be integrated into all of this. Keep a lookout for Google making news headlines as it continues its ambitious ways.

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Some iPhone apps may require FDA regulation

Eric Seidmon — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 05:57:58 +0000

As more iPhone apps are released for medical purposes such as diagnosis and treatment of symptoms, Electronic Medical Records (EMR), and other health-related purposes, Apple‘s mobile device is garnering more attention from the FDA.

Don Witters of the FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH) said the agency’s goal is to achieve safe, secure, and reliable deployments of wireless technology in health care. As a result, the FDA more interested in the iPhone use by licensed medical professionals. Mobihealthnews.com reports that Witters has defined a medical device as:

“…an implementation, product, apparatus or other component or accessory, which is used in the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, prevention of disease or effects any structure of the body–that could actually include some information technologies and performance technologies–but usually something that is performed on the patient, touches the patient or is performed between physician and patient.”

Can an iPhone achieve many or all of these uses and purposes? Yes. It appears that an iPhone loaded with the proper apps is indeed a medical device of some sort.

If that’s the case, how should the FDA get involved in regulating the device? Witters said the FDA’s role is “to provide some reasonable assurance of safety and effectiveness in medical devices marketed in the U.S.”

mHealth apps developers as well as wireless medical device makers should contact the FDA to provide their views about how this emerging industry should be regulated. For questions on this subject, or to provide an opinion, contact the FDA’s CDRH. As regulations and roles are defined and categorized, so too will laws emerge regarding mobile devices and their medical use.

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iPhone app developers can’t utilize GPS for advertising

Eric Seidmon — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 19:32:27 +0000

Apple has announced that the GPS feature in iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS may be accessed only to provide what the company describes as “beneficial information.” The restriction means no advertising using Apple’s Core Location framework.

Apple‘s iPhone Dev Center describes the framework as a tool that “allows you to build applications which know where your users are and can deliver information based on their location, such as local weather, nearby restaurants, ATMs and other location-based information.”

Apple’s App Store Review Team will not post the app to Apple’s store if the software enables a mobile advertiser to target messages based on an iPhone user’s location. The reviewers will return the app to the developers for modification.

It appears that Apple placed limits on outside developers to avoid competition with its internal strategy to infiltrate the mobile advertising market. Apple has not announced its advertising plans yet, and thus it is hard to know the company’s plans.

But recent developments suggest that the strategy exists and will soon be made public. On Jan. 5, Apple purchased the mobile advertising firm Quattro Wireless . That gave rise to speculation that Apple would allow app developers to use Quattro to integrate the company’s advertising plans into Apps Store software.

There is also speculation that Apple wants to retain control over location-aware advertising in order to gain an edge over competitors such as Admob,which Google purchased. Apple now has patents on location-based services, so Apple may be girding for a mobile-ad fight with its sometime-ally, sometime nemesis.

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Fastcase released on iPhone-Amazing start for mobile legal research

Joel Rothman — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 21:04:25 +0000

Billable hours just became more mobile. It was announced today that Fastcase has released the first ever legal research app for the iPhone and all other Apple mobile devices. According to PRweb.com, Fastcase is the largest law library on the iPhone. As of now, the app can be downloaded and used for free to search cases and statutes.

Fastcase is well known for its ingenius interface which allows for quicker and easier searches by ranking the best cases first and the search results can then be re-sorted in order to obtain the information more quickly. The company recently launched the Fastcase Public Library of Law, the largest free legal research site in the world.

Fastcase’s highly regarded plaform for legal research is now accessible via their app. Users of the app will be able to Boolean search Fastcase’s database as well as search using case and statute citations. Users are also capable of browsing through statutes in a useful outline view.

The app is currently only available on Apple devices so it will be interesting to see if it becomes available on other platforms as well. Otherwise, until other apps for legal research are developed for Apple and other platforms, it would appear that Fastcase currently has the market cornered.

I have been using the app for a few weeks in pre-release form and I can say that it is an excellent, easy-to-use tool, and you can’t beat the (free) price! Well done, Fastcase!

If you would like to learn more about Fastcase’s new app, or to download it for free, visit: http://www.fastcase.com/iphone/.

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Build your own mobile app even if you can’t write programs

Eric Seidmon — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:40:08 +0000

To make app development more accessible, Minneapolis‘ Mobile On Services BuildAnApp provides novices with simple templates for use by businesses and organizations. The template works on several platforms including the iPhone, Blackberry, as well as Windows Mobile.

The company plans to add platforms like Google‘s Android, Nokia, Symbian, and Palm. Furthermore, the firm will introduce API (application programming interfaces) to bring in content on the Web or in other databases. And customers will be able to integrate their apps with online services such as Facebook, Twitter, and OpenTable.

One challenge involved in developing an app is determining the platform. Computerworld reports that BuildAnApp ameliorates this dilemma with proprietary software that enables the app to be delivered on three of the most influential smartphone platforms.

BuildAnApp has 16 basic templates, including one titled “other” that allows for a wider range of page types selected from other templates. Computerworld says “the company is also developing a ‘pro’ version of the service for skilled developers creating more sophisticated applications.”

BuildAnApp in all likelihood will not support superior development such as that from Rhomobile and Appcelerator, which support languages such as Ruby, JavaScript and HTML.

The company’s focus is to ease development for smaller businesses. The user picks a template, chooses typical types of pages and populates the app with information. Once finished, the developer can keep the app private by requiring a password.

Because the program is in beta, customers have a free 30-day trial, after which time they can pay $7.99 for a one-time content or app update or pay $14.99 per month to make unlimited updates. Customers can take it one step further by paying $59.99 for unlimited updates for six months. BuildAnApp will also submit the developed app to Apple’s App Store for $19.99, which includes resubmissions in the event that the app is rejected.

Computerworld mentioned an interesting analogy: “Analysts liken the emergence of a service such as BuildAnApp to the evolution of Web development from pure HTML coding to easy-to-use design services such as GeoCities and Blogger.”

A small business could use a mobile website but apps have advantages. For instance, consumers can access and use the information even when out of range of their wireless networks; an app layout may not only look better than a mobile website, it may also be easier and more logical to use; and apps generally run faster because they operate locally.

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Arnold and Porter App Released

Eric Seidmon — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:15:42 +0000

Arnold and Porter LLP has recently launched its own iPhone application for its Consumer Advertising Law Blog. The app will provide its clients and readers with a mobile way to access their blog now.

According to the Firm’s website, the blog contains reporting and analysis that has emerged in the past 20 months as “a multidisciplinary resource on issues relating to consumer protection and advertising law.”

Is this a new trend: law firms creating their own apps? What types of law apps might this lead to in the future?

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Airport security alert: TSA wants its service rated

hotto — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:22:51 +0000

Call it crowdsourcing, online rating or real-time reporting. The Web allows for immediate, detailed consumer commentary on products and services. That feedback has extended to cell phones and reached the airline-security experience through the “Survey on the Spot” app for the iPhone.

On the Spot Systems in Newton, Mass., has launched the TSA Airport Security Screening Survey that gives people who tub their carry-ons, take off their shoes and sometimes get wanded to rate their experiences. This is not a rogue app; the Transportation Security Administration wants to know how it is doing. Survey on the Spot also allows travelers to add photos and comments to help the TSA improve the national security system, says On the Spot Systems in a press release.

Photos of suspected terrorists? Rants? Don’t look for them on a Web site. On the Spot generates proprietary information for clients, most of which appear to be fast-food and casual dining chains, based on our informal search on the company’s Web site. The TSA app is geo-based; launch it and it figures out which airport you’re trying to traverse to your plane. The commercial clients use zip codes to locate their nearest restaurant or coffee shop.

Ratings in the public sector are relatively rare when compared to the private sector and independent sites that span across the Web. One wonders whether there might one day be a survey for rating the cop who pulls you over for speeding, the judge who hears your case, the attorney who represents you, and the court clerk who takes your fine payment.

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Rejected Apple Apps Publicized

Eric Seidmon — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 00:04:25 +0000

Although Apple‘s review process for iPhone apps seems to elude most developers, some help is in sight. In addition to the FCC‘s ongoing investigations since Google Voice was rejected by Apple, a very useful Web site was recently created to publicize the details of such rejections.

The App Rejections site should help app developers better understand why certain apps were rejected, thereby avoiding those mistakes themselves. The site is set up as a simple blog and is therefore easy to read and follow.

Adam Martin, the site’s author, occasionally infuses his insights into the posts, providing some of his personal opinions and theories regarding Apple’s review process.

ReadWriteWeb reports that the blog’s purpose is to explain exactly why particular applications have been rejected. Posts examine information regarding API‘s (Application Programming Interface) used or rules broken for example. The site is also useful because it reviews apps that had been previously rejected but later make it into Apple’s App Store. These posts are entitled “approved” or “overturned” (overturned refers when an app went through some sort of appeal process brought by its developer).

As the site catches on, perhaps Apple will, too, make it easier for developers to understand their review process. In the meantime, this site is a great utility for other developers to gain some insight that they would not ordinarily be able to obtain.

If a developer wishes to have his or her experience with Apple documented on App Rejections, Martin can be contacted through his company’s Twitter account, redglassesapps.

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