MEDICAL APPS: MORE TRANSPARENCY IS NEEDED ON DATA USE Half of the apps do not provide the users with the appropriate information before the download or request excessive datas

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On May 2014 the Italian PDA has launched a survey to check the compliance of the medical apps with the Italian legislation.

The findings – publicized in September - show that users are not protected adequately: moreover users are too often unable to give their informed, free consent.

The point is: more transparency is needed on the use of downloaders datas in Italy.

A lot of the medical apps surveyed by the Italian DPA presents the following problems:

·       they do not provide information about data use prior to installation, or  

·       they provide very general information or request excessive datas compared to their features;

·       privacy notice is not tailored to the small screen size and is thus hard to decipher;

·       the privacy notice is found, for instance, in the technical credits area of such device.

Out of a total of 1,200 apps surveyed, barely 15% provide the users with really meaningful privacy notices. In 59% of the cases the DPAs found many difficulties in locating pre-installation privacy notices.

Based on the findings of the survey, the DPA is now considering further steps also with a view to issuing measures or sanctions.