Table 3 Investigated characteristics of user documented food consumption data related to legal governance and extracted information (n = 176)
Characteristic | Description | Extracted information (n) |
|---|---|---|
Website | Whether the app can be associated with a working home/support page | Yes (140), No (36) |
Contact information | Whether the app vendor provides contact information | Yes (117), No (59) |
Terms & conditions | Whether the app provides a terms of use document | Yes (69), No (107) |
Privacy statement | Whether the app provides a privacy policy document | Yes (80), No (96) |
Ownershipa | The parties who hold the ownership of the user generated data (User content) | User (50), Vendor (1), No information (125) |
Usage license vendor | Whether the app vendor retains the right to access and exploit the user generated data (publish, distribute, publicly display) | Yes (43), No (9), No Information (124) |
Personally identifiable information collection | Whether the app collects personal identifiable information (e.g., during registration) | Yes (74), No (5), No Information (97) |
Type personally identifiable informationa | The types of personal identifiable information does the app collect | Email address (44), Name (37), Username and or password (28), Date of birth (18), Phone number (16), Registration (16), Health data (15), Address (14), Financial information (11), Gender (10), Additional data (8), Optional registration (8), Physical characteristics (7), Demographics (7), Mandatory registration (7), Image (5), Postcode (4), Location (3), No information (3), Interactions (1), Home address (1), Personal video (1), Social network handle (1), Ethnicity (1) |
Public profile | Whether the app creates a public profile of the users personal data | Yes (38), No (5), No Information (133) |
Privacy settings public profile | Whether the is user able to configure the privacy settings for his or her public profile | Yes (21), No (1), No Information (16) |
Cookies | Whether the homepage/website of the app stores cookies on a user’s computer | Yes (61), No Information (115) |
Web Beacons | Whether the homepage/website of the app stores web beacons on a user’s computer | Yes (25), No (2), No Information (149) |
PII data sharing affiliates | Whether the collected personal identifiable data will be shared with affiliated third parties (confidentiality agreements) | Yes (51), No (8), With consent (4), No information (113) |
PII data sharing non affiliates | Whether the collected personal identifiable data will be shared with unaffiliated third parties (without confidentiality agreements) | Yes (4), No (11), With consent (29), No information (132) |
Usage Analytics | Whether the homepage/website of the app uses third-parties for advertising and usage analytics | Yes (41), No (1), No Information (134) |
Data Storagea | The location where the system stores the data it collects | Device storage (78), Server storage (48), No information (81) |
Data encryption | Whether the collected data is stored or transmitted in encrypted form | Storage: No information (176) Transfer: Yes (15), No information (161) |
Data deletion | Whether the user is able to delete or ask for deletion of his or her personal identifiable information (e.g., after account termination) | Yes (33), No (1), No Information (142) |