On Monday, the Article 29 Working Party released its new Opinion on geo-location data collection and processing in smart mobile devices.  The paper comes on the heels of a recent furor over the extent to which smart phones collect, process and transmit location data without the full knowledge and consent of the phone’s users.  It represents the first collective response by European regulators to the concerns raised by those revelations.

As well as confirming that location data on smart mobile devices is personal data, and potentially even sensitive data, the paper marks out “best practices” seen by the Working Party as fully compliant with the EU’s data protection regime.  Examples include:

  • As well as clearly requesting user consent for the use of location data, smart phone applications should display an on-screen icon to remind users that location data is being collected and transmitted; 
  • Location data from such devices should be retained for a maximum period of 24 hours; 
  • Data subjects must be informed in advance of any application that “phones home” geo-location data, and the reason for which they are transmitting the data; 
  • WiFi base-station owners must be allowed to “opt-out” of any database that has collected the location of their base stations. 
Article 29 Working Party releases Opinion on geo-location data for smart mobile devices
On Monday the Article 29 Working Party released its new Opinion (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/policies/privacy/docs/wpdocs/2011/wp185_en.pdf) on geo-location data in smart mobile devices.  The paper comes on the heels of a recent furore over the extent to which smart phones collect, process and transmit location data without the full knowledge and consent of the phone’s users.  It represents the first collective response by European regulators to the concerns raised by those revelations.
As well as confirming that location data on smart mobile devices is personal data, and potentially even sensitive data, the paper marks out “best practices” seen by the Working Party as fully compliant with the EU’s data protection regime.  Examples include:
As well as clearly requesting user consent for the use of location data, smart phone applications should display an on-screen icon to remind users that location data is being collected and transmitted; 
Location data from such devices should be retained for a maximum period of 24 hours; 
Data subjects must be informed in advance of any application that “phones home” geo-location data, and the reason for which they are transmitting the data; 
WiFi base-station owners must be allowed to “opt-out” of any database that has collected the location of their b
Tags: Article 29 Working Party, European Union (EU), Mobile, Smartphones
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Photo of Dan Cooper Dan Cooper

Daniel Cooper is co-chair of Covington’s Data Privacy and Cyber Security Practice, and advises clients on information technology regulatory and policy issues, particularly data protection, consumer protection, AI, and data security matters. He has over 20 years of experience in the field, representing…

Daniel Cooper is co-chair of Covington’s Data Privacy and Cyber Security Practice, and advises clients on information technology regulatory and policy issues, particularly data protection, consumer protection, AI, and data security matters. He has over 20 years of experience in the field, representing clients in regulatory proceedings before privacy authorities in Europe and counseling them on their global compliance and government affairs strategies. Dan regularly lectures on the topic, and was instrumental in drafting the privacy standards applied in professional sport.

According to Chambers UK, his “level of expertise is second to none, but it’s also equally paired with a keen understanding of our business and direction.” It was noted that “he is very good at calibrating and helping to gauge risk.”

Dan is qualified to practice law in the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Belgium. He has also been appointed to the advisory and expert boards of privacy NGOs and agencies, such as the IAPP’s European Advisory Board, Privacy International and the European security agency, ENISA.

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