How Decisions by Apple and Google obstruct App Privacy

Authors

  • Konrad Kollnig Faculty of Law, Maastricht University
  • Nigel Shadbolt Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26116/techreg.2023.002

Keywords:

app stores, Digital Services Act, privacy, data protection, online platforms, Apple, Google, iOS, Android, apps

Abstract

Ample past research highlighted that privacy problems are widespread in mobile apps and can have disproportionate impacts on individuals. However, doing such research, especially through automated methods, remains hard and has become an arms race with those who engage in invasive data practices. This paper analyses how decisions by Apple and Google, the makers of the two primary app ecosystems (iOS and Android), currently hold back (automated) app privacy research and thereby create systemic risks that have previously not been systematically documented. Such an analysis is timely and pertinent since the newly enacted EU Digital Services Act (DSA) obliges Very Large Online Platforms to enable ‘vetted researchers’ to study systemic risks (Article 40) and to put in place reasonable, proportionate and effective mitigation measures against systemic risks (Article 35).

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biographies

  • Konrad Kollnig, Faculty of Law, Maastricht University

    Konrad Kollnig is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, Maastricht University. Previously, he studied computer science and mathematics in Aachen, Edinburgh and Oxford.

  • Nigel Shadbolt, Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford

    Sir Nigel Shadbolt is Professor of Computing Science at the Computer Science Department of Oxford University and Principal of Jesus College, Oxford. In 2012, he co-founded the Open Data Institute, together with Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Downloads

Published

26-09-2023 — Updated on 02-10-2023

Versions

Issue

Vol. 2023 (2023)

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Konrad Kollnig, Nigel Shadbolt

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Submissions are published under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license.’

How to Cite

How Decisions by Apple and Google obstruct App Privacy. (2023). Technology and Regulation, 2023, 10-21. https://doi.org/10.26116/techreg.2023.002 (Original work published 2023)