Universität zu Köln

Sunyaev, Ali ORCID: 0000-0002-4353-8519, Dehling, Tobias ORCID: 0000-0002-3445-3003, Taylor, Patrick L. and Mandl, Kenneth D. (2015). Availability and quality of mobile health app privacy policies. J. Am. Med. Inf. Assoc., 22 (E1). S. E28 - 6. OXFORD: OXFORD UNIV PRESS. ISSN 1527-974X

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Abstract

Mobile health (mHealth) customers shopping for applications (apps) should be aware of app privacy practices so they can make informed decisions about purchase and use. We sought to assess the availability, scope, and transparency of mHealth app privacy policies on iOS and Android. Over 35 000 mHealth apps are available for iOS and Android. Of the 600 most commonly used apps, only 183 (30.5%) had privacy policies. Average policy length was 1755 (SD 1301) words with a reading grade level of 16 (SD 2.9). Two thirds (66.1%) of privacy policies did not specifically address the app itself. Our findings show that currently mHealth developers often fail to provide app privacy policies. The privacy policies that are available do not make information privacy practices transparent to users, require college-level literacy, and are often not focused on the app itself. Further research is warranted to address why privacy policies are often absent, opaque, or irrelevant, and to find a remedy.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Sunyaev, Ali UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-4353-8519 UNSPECIFIED Dehling, Tobias UNSPECIFIED orcid.org/0000-0002-3445-3003 UNSPECIFIED Taylor, Patrick L. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Mandl, Kenneth D. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-409131
DOI:	10.1136/amiajnl-2013-002605
Journal or Publication Title:	J. Am. Med. Inf. Assoc.
Volume:	22
Number:	E1
Page Range:	S. E28 - 6
Date:	2015
Publisher:	OXFORD UNIV PRESS
Place of Publication:	OXFORD
ISSN:	1527-974X
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language INFORMATION; CARE; AGREEMENT Multiple languages Computer Science, Information Systems; Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications; Health Care Sciences & Services; Information Science & Library Science; Medical Informatics Multiple languages
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/40913