Consumer Reports To Test Mobile Apps, Connected Devices, And Software For Privacy Safeguards

From the Consumer Reports company blog:

In our recent CR Consumer Voices survey, 65 percent of Americans told us they are either slightly or not at all confident that their personal data is private and not distributed without their knowledge. We think it’s unfair and unrealistic to expect consumers to constantly play defense when the products and services they use aren’t engineered with basic privacy and security protections built in. Consumer Reports regularly writes about major security vulnerabilities and offers advice to our readers about good practices that can help protect their data and privacy. But as an organization, we aim to do more.

That’s why we’re now launching the first phase of a collaborative effort to create a new standard that safeguards consumers’ security and privacy—and we hope industry will use that standard when building and designing digital products such as connected devices, software, and mobile apps. The goal is to help consumers understand which digital products do the most to protect their privacy and security, and give them the most control over their personal data. This standard can also eventually be used by CR and others in developing test protocols to evaluate and rate products—which will help consumers make more informed purchasing decisions.