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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) –
Apple and Google face Republican questions in the United States House of Representatives over privacy of smart phone data, suggesting that Congress members are Expanding his review of how the technology industry deals with users' personal information.
The Republican leadership of the Energy and Commerce Committee sent letters to Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, and Larry Page, CEO of Google's parent company, Alphabet, asking for details about its data collection practices on smartphones.
Read: Apple takes action against collecting data on Facebook
Letters, signed by the committee chair and the heads of the three subcommittees, ask for details on how the iPhone and Android devices collect audio and location data. They also learn about the limitations that companies have with third-party application developers in terms of collecting data on users' devices.
"To protect the privacy of our users and to ensure that their information is of utmost importance to answer the Committee's questions," said a Google spokesperson in a statement provided to CNNMoney.
Apple declined to comment on the letter.
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The questions come about three months after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg was questioned by members of the same House of Representatives Committee on the practices of data collection of the company. The public followed the news that Cambridge Analytica, a data company linked to President Donald Trump's campaign, went unnoticed by 87 million Facebook users without their knowledge.
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Citing media reports, lawmakers feared that smartphones could "in some cases" collect data from conversations that take place near the Device, even if the user has not deliberately activated voice agents saying Hey Siri u OK Google ". [19659003] The letters also cited a report from 2017 that claimed Google was collecting cell phone tow data even when location services were turned off, and both companies were asked to clarify their policies on this issue.
] Following the Facebook data scandal, Cook is positioned as a privacy advocate for users.The Apple CEO said last month at CN NMoney that society believes that "privacy is a basic human right".
"Privacy is totally out of control," he said. "I think most people do not know who is following them, how much they are being followed, and the vast amount of detailed data that exists about them."
Read: Why Apple uses the Privacy as a sales argument
Google, with a business model based on advertising similar to that of Facebook, was confronted with an increased examination of privacy.
The Wall Street Journal ] announced in early July that Google was allowing third-party developers to scan the inboxes of Gmail users. In a post on his company blog, the technology has not called into question the practice, but said that it investigates developers and allows users to control access to it. They have to their information.
In Monday's letter, lawmakers asked Google to explain how many developers "are allowed to access the contents of a user's Gmail e-mail, with or without their consent."
Apple and Google have until July 23 to respond.
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