Zain collaborates with GSMA in the development of Mobile Privacy Principles
- ‘A matter of privacy': Ensuring mobile customer's personal information is secure
- Group CEO Nabeel Bin Salamah: "This creates a bond of trust and ensures that mobile companies operate according to the highest ethical and moral standards."
London /Kuwait; January 30, 2011
Zain Group, the leading mobile network operator in the Middle East, today declared its support for the Mobile Privacy Principles laid down by the London headquartered Global System for Mobile Communications Association, or ‘GSMA'.
The GSMA represents the interests of the worldwide mobile communications industry. Its members represent more than 4.5 billion GSM and 3GSM connections. These new principles describe the way in which mobile consumers' privacy should be respected and protected when customers use mobile applications and services that access, use or collect their personal information. The principles are the result of close collaboration by leading mobile operators, including the Zain Group, and other interest groups and stakeholders within the mobile industry.
Commenting on the new principles, Zain Group CEO Nabeel Bin Salamah highlighted the need for the whole industry to throw its weight behind and to support the new code of conduct, stressing Zain's commitment to its implementation. "The age of mobile technology has made it imperative that network operators create and support a framework to further protect customer privacy. This creates a bond of trust and ensures that we operate according to the highest ethical and moral standards," he said. "At Zain, we take our responsibilities in this field very seriously and we are committed to operating by the standards demanded by the global mobile industry and cooperating with the various stakeholders in this very important initiative."
According to the GSMA, the Mobile Privacy Principles will be used to develop more detailed guidelines and codes of conduct to address specific consumer concerns such as the use of private data or location details by applications. Crucially, they will eventually lead to the development of clear and simple guidelines for customers to manage their information and their privacy on mobile phones.
Tom Phillips, GSMA's Chief Regulatory Officer explained why the sector needed to regulate the issue of personal data. "Online privacy is an important and high-profile issue across the globe," he said. "In many regions of the world, consumers' first internet experience will be via mobile and we believe it is right to address mobile privacy challenges early to ensure the protection of consumers' privacy."
Transparency on what personal information is being collected is a key component of the new set of standards, which also covers issues such as the need to provide consumers with control over how their personal information is used and by whom, while ensuring that only a minimum amount of data for any given service is required and retained.
The Mobile Privacy Principles can be viewed in their entirety by downloading the attachment below or visiting: http://www.gsmworld.com/our-work/public-policy/mobile_privacy.htm