Senate Privacy Hearing to Include Apple Testimony

Legal ScalesThe U.S. Senate hearing on mobile privacy is set to start at 10AM eastern time, and Apple’s vice president of Software Technology will be on hand to testify. Senator Al Franken called the hearing, titled “Protecting Mobile Privacy: Your Smartphones, Tablets, Cell Phones and Your Privacy,” to look into the data collection and customer privacy practices for mobile phone users.

Apple and Google will both be present to testify at a U.S. Senate hearing. The companies will be answering questions about their customer privacy policies related to iPhone and Android device tracking and information sharing.

The two companies were called to the hearing by Senator Al Franken after security researchers released an application that plotted the cell tower and Wi-Fi hotspot data stored on iPhone owner’s devices. The data was also saved in an unencrypted backup file on user’s computers during the sync process.

The hearing is being broadcast live on CSPAN and as a Webcast at the U.S. Senate Judiciary Web site.