“The U.S. Federal Trade Commission published a report on Monday saying that app stores like those operated by Apple and Google need to take responsibility for enhanced transparency, as there is little to no information available to parents regarding the collection and transmission of data from apps targeted at children,” Mikey Campbell reports for AppleInsider.

“According to the study, kids’ apps included interactive features or shared gathered information with third parties, but failed to disclose the practices to parents in the app descriptions seen on Apple’s App Store or Google’s Android Market,” Campbell reports. “As noted by The Wall Street Journal, almost 60 percent of 400 randomly selected apps transmitted sensitive device information to developers or third parties like advertising networks and analytics firms.”

Campbell reports, “Only 20 percent of the apps studied disclosed information about possible data collection practices, 11 percent of which actually transmitted information while 9 percent did not. Data sent from the various mobile devices included geolocation information, phone numbers and device IDs.”

Read more in the full article here.