U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS) recently signed on as an original cosponsor of legislation to require online app stores to publicly list the country of origin of the applications that they distribute, and to provide consumers the ability to protect themselves.
“Our adversaries will exploit every available tool, including popular apps that gather huge amounts of data on Americans, to gain an advantage over the United States,” Sen. Wicker said on Tuesday. “It is crucial for users to take steps to limit their exposure and be made aware of the risks associated with using foreign-controlled apps.”
The Know Your App Act, S. 1732, which Sen. Wicker introduced on May 18 alongside bill sponsor U.S. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), also would express the sense of Congress that many users are unaware of the country of origin of the apps they download and use, as well as the data handling practices of the developers behind those apps.
This lack of transparency can lead to potential risks for users, including exposure to foreign government surveillance, data breaches, and privacy violations, according to the text of the bill, which adds that users have a right to know baseline information on the country of origin so that they can personally make decisions to mitigate the threat to their personal and biometric information.
“The Know Your App Act would bring much-needed transparency to app stores, empowering Americans to safeguard their families from exploitation,” said Sen. Wicker.
If enacted, S. 1732 also would require the U.S. Department of Treasury and the U.S. Department of Commerce to produce a list of adversarial governments that may have undue control over application content moderation, algorithm design, or user data transfers, according to a bill summary provided by Sen. Wicker’s office.
App stores would be required to provide users the ability to filter out applications from the identified adversarial countries and warn users about the risk of downloading one of the foreign applications on these lists, the summary says, noting that if a developer fails to provide sufficient information to the app store about its country affiliation, the app store would be required to issue multiple warnings over a designated period. If the developer still refused to comply, the app store would be required to remove the app from its store.