Lawmakers Press Alphabet and Apple on Smartphone Users’ Privacy

Letters seek more information on how smartphones collect user location and other data

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation on data privacy will come into force on May 25, 2018. This video explains how it could affect you, even if you don't live in the EU. (Originally Published May 16, 2018)

WASHINGTON—House lawmakers sent letters Monday to the chief executives of Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. seeking answers about how they handle users’ personal information, including spoken words, email content and location data.

The letters show that privacy concerns in Washington have spread beyond Facebook Inc., which has been in regulators’ and lawmakers’ crosshairs this past year over the sharing of user information with a data-analytics firm that had ties to the Donald Trump presidential campaign.

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