Contradictions about data collection found in 14% of Android app privacy policies

In a recent academic study, researchers have found that a large number of Android mobile apps available on the Google Play Store contain contradictory provisions in their privacy policies in regards to data collection. According to ZDNet, ‘examples include privacy policies that stated in one section that they do not collect personal data, only to contradict themselves in subsequent sections, where they state they collect emails or customer names — which are clearly personally-identifiable information’. This research used a tool called PolicyLint, a privacy policy analysis tool that identifies such contradictions by simultaneously considering negation and varying semantic levels of data objects and entities.