Sens Franken, Blumenthal introduce mobile privacy bill

Sens Al Franken (D-MN) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) introduced a smart phone privacy bill that would require companies like Apple and Google to get permission from users before sharing geo-locational data with third parties. The bill comes amid increased concern that mobile phone and apps makers are collecting information about a consumer’s whereabouts based on GPS and other technology and sharing that data with outside parties. The bill, called the Location Privacy Protection Act of 2011, aims to better protect users’ privacy and inform them how their data is being used.