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"The Federal Trade Commission suggested Apple, Google, app developers and advertising networks should implement mobile Do Not Track (DNT) features in new mobile privacy guidelines issued Friday.\nDo Not Track is designed to block third parties such as advertising networks from tracking your activity on the web. It's becoming increasingly popular as many plugins and several of the newest browsers offer it as a feature with varying degrees of efficacy.\nAdvertising companies argue tracking is necessary for delivering relevant ads. Tracking is also used by many websites to remember your login information and for other web experience-enhancing features. However, some people view Internet tracking as an invasion of privacy. \nThe FTC, which oversees digital privacy issues, argues in its report that mobile Do Not Track would offer consumers a choice between tracking and trackless browsing with the benefits and disadvantages either selection would bring.\n\"A mobile DNT mechanism, which a majority of the Commission has endorsed, would allow consumers to choose to prevent tracking by ad networks or other third parties as they navigate among apps on their phones,\" reads the FTC's report.\n\nSEE ALSO: 4 Ways to Stop Online Tracking\n\nThe FTC's report had several other privacy suggestions for mobile platform providers, app developers and advertising networks. \nIt argues Apple, Google and other platforms should be required to get your consent before accessing geolocation and other \"sensitive content,\" consider developing cross-app privacy dashboards and consider developing an icon showing when user data is being transmitted, among other privacy reforms.\nApp developers, meanwhile, should have easily-accessible privacy policies, get your direct consent before sharing sensitive data and take steps to better understand the third-party ad networks many developers incorporate into their apps, says the FTC's report.\nThe report also advised developers to take part in self-regulation and \"trade associations,\" which could help form industry-wide privacy standards.\n\"The mobile world is expanding and innovating at breathtaking speed, allowing consumers to do things that would have been hard to imagine only a few years ago,\" said FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz in a statement. \"These best practices will help to safeguard consumer privacy and build trust in the mobile marketplace, ensuring that the market can continue to thrive.\"\nRead the FTC's full report below:\nFTC Mobile Privacy Report by    \n\nPhoto via iStockphoto, ozgurdonmaz"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/02/01/ftc-mobile-do-not-track/>