Alan Davidson, Google's director of public policy, said Google would consider adding such a policy. Apple's Mr. Trimble said that Apple requires app makers to sign a contract agreeing to tell users how they are using consumers' data. Under cheap feather hair extensions questioning, however, he said Apple had never removed an app from its store for violating the agreement. He said the apps that Apple has investigated for possible violations have all agreed to modify their practices.Tuesday's hearing, the first held by a new Senate Judiciary subcommittee on privacy, technology and the law, focused on recent disclosures that Apple and Google routinely collect information about the location of cellphones. An executive from each company said users are told about the transmissions and offered ways to disable them.Apple came under particular fire because some of its phones collect location data even when users turn off location services. Apple said the collection resulted from a "bug" that it fixed with new software last week. "Apple does not track users' location. We have never done so and have no plans to do so," said Guy "Bud" Tribble, Apple's vice president of software technology.Sen. Franken asked Jessica Rich, deputy director of the Federal Trade Commission's consumer-protection bureau, whether Apple had misled consumers because its license agreement says it won't collect feather hair extensions location information when location services are turned off. Ms. Rich said she couldn't comment on Apple specifically, but said "there's a lot we can do...to challenge" companies that make false statements about their practices.Sen. Franken also questioned how well Apple and Google police the thousands of software makers that create applications for their phones. He referred to the Journal's finding last year that 47 of 101 popular smartphone apps transmitted location data to outside companies without users' knowledge. Sen. Franken said there are no restrictions on what those companies can do with the data, and urged Google and Apple to consider requiring apps to display privacy policies.Sen. Franken challenged Mr. Tribble, noting that Apple says it uses information from cellphone towers and local wireless, or Wi-Fi, networks to provide services such as maps. Mr. Tribble replied that the information from cellphone towers and Wi-Fi networks "does not contain any customer information at all. It's completely anonymous."Ashkan Soltani, an independent technical consultant, told the subcommittee that in most cases a phone can be located within 100 feet, using data from Wi-Fi networks. During a test in a Senate office building, he said, the Wi-Fi data on his phone located him within 20 feet. Mr. Soltani was a consultant to The Wall Street Journal's What They Know series on commercial data gathering, but testified Tuesday on his own behalf. Apple Inc. and Google Inc. defended the ways they gather information from mobile phones at a Senate hearing here Tuesday, but lawmakers said the companies may be encroaching on consumers' privacy.Sen. Al Franken (D., Minn.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that conducted the hearing, said he still had "serious doubts" that cellphone users' privacy was being protected."My wireless companies, Apple, and Google, and my wholesale hair extensionsapps, all get my location or something very close to it," Sen. Franken said. "We need to address this issue now, as mobile devices are only going to get more popular."The hearing came amid multiple efforts in Congress to curb the growing industry of gathering personal data about computer and smartphone users. At least five pieces of legislation have been introduced this year, including three that aim to create a mechanism that would allow users to turn off tracking.
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