Peer-Reviewed Study

Data Collection Practices of Mobile Applications Played by Preschool-Aged Children

Dec 2020 🇺🇸 JAMA Pediatrics Ages 3–5 PEER-REVIEWED PAYWALLED — LINKED, NOT HOSTED

This study, with Radesky as senior author, examined the network traffic of 451 mobile apps played by 124 children aged 3–5 to see what data those apps sent to outside companies. Roughly two-thirds of the apps transmitted persistent device identifiers — the kind of data used to build cross-app advertising profiles — to as many as 33 different third-party domains, including ad networks and data brokers. Transmission rates were higher for apps used by older children within the sample and for children from households with lower parental education, but were not associated with household income. The authors describe this pattern as widespread apparent noncompliance with federal children's privacy law and argue it points to a need for stronger enforcement and more transparent data practices in children's app marketplaces, particularly given the disparity by parental education.

67% of apps sent persistent identifiers to third parties

303 of 451 apps studied (67%) transmitted persistent identifiers to between 1 and 33 different third-party domains.

Higher transmission rates in lower-education households

Apps used by children from households where a parent had a high school education or less showed a rate ratio of 2.29 for persistent-identifier transmissions compared with higher-education households (P=.003).

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CITATION

Zhao, Fangwei, Serge Egelman, Heidi M. Weeks, Niko Kaciroti, Alison L. Miller, and Jenny S. Radesky. "Data Collection Practices of Mobile Applications Played by Preschool-Aged Children." JAMA Pediatrics 174, no. 12 (December 2020): e203345. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2020.3345

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