Best Practices

This guide provides companies a landscape view of potential algorithmic harms that should be considered when creating Data Protection Impact Assessments, as an obligation under the GDPR.

A resource for developers when working to design transparency and notification systems in mobile apps.

A set of privacy practice recommendations to improve practices in the mobile marketplace and encourage app developers to consider privacy early in their development process.

A list of rights and technical practices that developers can implement in order to respect user privacy.

Several suggestions from the FTC for major participants in the mobile ecosystem as they work to improve privacy disclosures.

Guidelines for mobile app developers to build privacy into their apps, better inform and empower end-users, and foster trust and confidence in the mobile app ecosystem.

Guidelines that seek to articulate the GSMA’s Mobile Principles in functional terms for mobile application design.

A set of guidelines to help those building and integrating in-app mobile advertising technologies in order to understand what is acceptable and what is not in the mobile ecosystem.

Model privacy policy language for mobile application developers.

As chartered by the White House’s “Consumer Privacy Bill of Rights,” the NTIA-convened privacy multistakeholder process to develop a code of conduct in order to provide transparency in how companies providing applications and interactive services for mobile devices that handle personal data.

The Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada and the Offices of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta and British Columbia released joint best practices guidance for designing and developing mobile apps.

Automakers believe that strong consumer data privacy protections are essential to maintaining the trust of our customers. Our Privacy Principles reflect a major step in protecting personal information collected in the vehicle.

The Best Practices are a detailed set of guidelines that responsible companies can follow to ensure they provide practical privacy protections for consumer-generated health and wellness data. The document was produced with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and incorporates input from a wide range of stakeholders including companies, advocates, and regulators.

A set of baseline, voluntary guidelines for private-sector organizations that handle the type of data often produced by wearable technologies.

Independent research on consumer data collected by private companies holds the keys to addressing many of the challenges facing our society today, but it must be done in a way that protects individual privacy. This document highlights the data protection procedures and processes present in a research collaboration between Lumos Labs and the University of California Irvine, which was recently awarded the FPF Award for Research Data Stewardship, as well as a number of lessons from the award-winning project that companies and academic researchers may apply to future data sharing collaborations.

To that end, FPF has published a list of best practices for companies that are considering sharing personal data with academic researchers. The Best Practices for Sharing Data with Academic Researchers were developed by FPF Corporate Academic Data Stewardship Research Alliance, a group of more than two dozen companies and organizations.

The best practices favor academic independence and freedom over tightly controlled research, and encourage broad publication and dissemination of research results, while protecting the privacy of individual research subjects. Specific best practices include having a written data sharing agreement, practicing data minimization, and developing a common understanding of relevant de-identification techniques, among many others.

In addition, FPF published Contract Guidelines for Data Sharing Agreements Between Companies and Academic Researchers. The guidelines cover best practices and sample language that can be used in contracts between a company that supplies data to one or more researchers for academic or scientific research purposes.

Voluntary privacy guidelines recommended by DSF for digital signage and consumer-friendly interactive marketing.

A wide range of privacy groups and industry stakeholders participating in the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) Multi-Stakeholder process concerning privacy, transparency, and accountability issues regarding commercial and private use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones) agreed on this set of best practices. The Future of Privacy Forum created an easy to read summary of the best practices to help educate drone operators.

A wide range of privacy groups and industry stakeholders participating in the National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) Multi-Stakeholder process concerning privacy, transparency, and accountability issues regarding commercial and private use of unmanned aircraft systems (drones) agreed on this set of best practices.

These privacy and security best practices are intended as guidance for providers of educational services to educational institutions to the extent that they collect, disseminate, use or maintain personally identifiable information about students (student PII).

The Future of Privacy Forum (FPF) and The Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) introduced a Student Privacy Pledge to safeguard student privacy regarding the collection, maintenance, and use of student personal information. The commitments are intended to concisely detail existing federal law and regulatory guidance regarding the collection and handling of student data, and to encourage service providers to more clearly articulate these practices.

Co-written with education privacy experts Linnette Attai of PlayWell LLC, Amelia Vance of the National Association of State Boards of Education, and David B. Rubin, Esq., this document provides an in-depth analysis for ed tech companies. In particular, we examine the definitions and unique requirements of the California Student Online Personal Information Protection Act (SOPIPA).

The Attorney General’s Office has prepared this best practices guide in an effort to ensure that student privacy is respected, protected, and prioritized as the education technology industry brings learning innovations to our schools.

Consumer genetic tests, tests that are marketed to consumers by private companies, have empowered consumers to learn more about their biology and take a proactive role in their health, wellness, ancestry, and lifestyle. When consumers expressly grant permission and provide an informed consent, they can choose to share their genetic data with responsible researchers to help them discover important breakthroughs in biomedical research, healthcare, and personalized medicine.

The Best Practices establish standards for genetic data generated in the consumer context by making recommendations for companies’ privacy practices that require:

• Detailed transparency about how Genetic Data is collected, used, shared, and retained including a high-level summary of key privacy protections posted publicly and made easily accessible to consumers;
• Separate express consent for transfer of Genetic Data to third parties and for incompatible secondary uses;
• Educational resources about the basics, risks, benefits, and limitations of genetic and personal genomic testing;
• Access, correction, and deletion rights;
• Valid legal process for the disclosure of Genetic Data to law enforcement and transparency reporting on at least an annual basis;
• Ban on sharing Genetic Data with third parties (such as employers, insurance companies, educational institutions, and government agencies) without consent or as required by law;
• Restrictions on marketing based on Genetic Data; and
• Strong data security protections and privacy by design, among others.

A Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved safe harbor provider for websites that control all of the technical services necessary to meet the updated Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) Rule’s standards.

The Children’s Advertising Review Unit’s (CARU) standards for advertising directed to children that ensure such ads are not deceptive, unfair or inappropriate.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board’s (ESRB) seal program establishes requirements if any part of a member company’s website is directed to children, or the company has actual knowledge that it collects personal information from children under 13 years of age.

The FTC’s report surveying the privacy practices of children’s apps and recommending that members of the children’s app ecosystem provide greater transparency about their data practices.

The FTC’s follow up report examining the disclosures and data sharing practices of children’s apps with recommendations to improve privacy protections.

A “seal of approval” program that independently reviews and certifies the safety practices of child-friendly websites and technologies, including kid-targeted sites, social networks, apps, and other interactive and online products.

Guidelines created by the Association of Competitive Technology (ACT) for using a logo, which will signal to parents that the mobile app developers designed their app with privacy in mind.

An infomediary service that is recognized by the FTC as an approved COPPA safe harbor program.

Guidelines to promote and protect user privacy as Location Based Services are developed and deployed.

Guidelines to promote and protect user privacy as Location Based Services are developed and deployed.

Guidelines related to data collection and use through digital signage for digital signature companies, partners, and host venues.

FPF has worked with a group of leading technology companies to develop best practices for mobile location analytics. These companies provide solutions to retailers by developing aggregate reports used to reduce waiting times at check-out, to optimize store layouts and to understand consumer shopping patterns. The reports are generated by recognizing the Wi-Fi or Bluetooth MAC addresses of cellphones as they interact with store Wi-Fi networks. The FPF worked with the technology companies to develop a Code to ensure that appropriate privacy controls are in place as retailers seek to improve the consumer shopping experience.

Principles to help distinguish the research industry’s information gathering and analytical activity from separate marketing and advertising efforts. Focuses on compliance guidelines for research and duties researchers owe to research participants.

Guidelines that cover the collection of information by mobile devices (i.e. mobile phones, tablets and other similar mobile computing devices) for market, opinion or social research purposes.

The Information & Privacy Commissioner’ (IPC) collaborated with the Ministry of Labour and the Corporate Freedom of Information and Privacy Office of Management to develop best practices for survey research that involves the collection, retention, use, disclosure, and disposal of personal information.

Mobile app design guidelines that include consumer-privacy focused recommendations.

Best practices designed to promote respect for consumer privacy in the growing use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in commercial applications.

Guidance for member companies on how the existing Digital Advertising Alliance’s Self-Regulatory principles apply to certain types of data in the mobile device environment.

Best practices for mobile payment solutions that includes guidance for merchants and commonly used terms.

A user-centric privacy framework for the mobile ecosystem developed by GSMA.

A comprehensive list of Mobile Marketing Association’s mobile guidelines for marketing on the mobile platform.

Guidance for member companies on how the Network Advertising Initiative’s Code applies to data practices in the mobile marketplace.

As part of the “Mobile Web Initiative,” W3C members chartered a working group to develop a set of technical best practices and associated materials in support of the development of web sites that provide an appropriate user experience on mobile devices.

This IMMA Privacy reference architecture unambiguously specifies and clearly explains the numerous statutory requirements related to privacy. It includes examples that can be used to translate the requirements to your specific situation. This guide was created in close co-operation with Considerati (legal advisors).

Seven principles developed by the Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA) that apply broadly to a wide-range of actors, working interdependently, to deliver behavioral advertising.

Best practices for marketers that are seeking to maximize the delivery of communications with customers who have given their consent/permission to be contacted via e-mail.

Guidelines that provide individuals and organizations involved in direct marketing with generally accepted principles of appropriate conduct.

Best practices for marketers that use real-time direct marketing technologies.

An executive summary from the FTC that discusses a framework for companies to innovate and deliver better products and services without compromising consumer privacy.

A staff report that examines behavioral advertising that involves the Commission, industry, consumer and privacy organizations, and individual consumers.

Self-regulatory rules of the road for advertising networks developed by PrivacyChoice.

Core principles developed by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) that can increase the effectiveness of social advertising campaigns.

Key examples of the best practices that TRUSTe recommends for businesses to build trust with consumers.

Privacy researchers at Princeton University’s Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP)  published the results of ongoing research demonstrating that many website operators are using third-party tools called “session replay scripts” to track visitors’ individual browsing sessions, including their keystrokes and mouse movements. These “session replay scripts,” typically used as analytics tools for publishers to better understand how visitors are navigating their websites, were found on 482 of the 50,000 most trafficked websites, including government (.gov) and educational (.edu)

The Better Business Bureau’s (BBB) compliance program for member companies that must adhere to their Code of Business Practices, including its online standard.

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) requires its member companies obtain their Privacy Seal when collecting, using and disclosing personal information in the online context.

PrivacyChoice’s analytic tool that scores websites based on their information disclosures and data tracking capabilities.

The seal enables companies to safely collect and use customer data in order to power their digital business via TRUSTe’s certification that ensures compliance.

A task force that is developing a voluntary code of conduct to address privacy issues related to data enabled by smart grid technologies.

Privacy guidelines to govern the collection, storage and disclosure of consumer energy data.

A consensus document by a diverse subgroup to explore privacy concerns and recommendations for data enabled by smart grid technologies.

Augments CASRO’s Code of Standards and Ethics for marketing research for use with research on social media.

A start-up that provides several solutions to automate compliance and fulfill regulatory obligations in the social media space.

Three basic privacy-protective principles that the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) believes social network users should demand when using these services.

A certification seal of data management practices for online sites or services that use social login to authenticate users.

How to use text messaging to disseminate health messages according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The Mobile Marketing Association’s (MMA) guidelines for mobile marketers regarding the many rules of text message marketing.