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Smartphone and apps

Your smartphone or tablet contains a lot of personal information about you. Apps on your smartphone or tablet collect these data or often have access to these data. For example, your contacts, photos and location. This is why it is important that you ensure that the settings of your smartphone or tablet are safe. And that you pay proper attention when installing and using apps. To ensure that you do not give away more data than you actually want to. And to ensure that your data do not end up in the wrong hands.

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  1. General information

Personal data on smartphone or tablet

There are 3 types of personal data that can be found on your smartphone or tablet:

  • data about the use of the device (such as which apps you use and how often you do this);
  • data on the device (such as your contacts and photos);
  • data from the device (such as your location and movements).

You can take various measures for ensuring that the settings of your smartphone or tablet are as safe as possible. By doing so, you reduce the privacy risks.

Privacy and apps

Apps may need some of the data on your smartphone or tablet. These data are necessary for the functioning of the app. But do you, for example, provide more data than necessary? Then this may entail a risk for your privacy. Even if developers and providers of apps always have to comply with the privacy legislation.

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Quick answers

As a shopkeeper, am I allowed to display or share photos of shoplifters?

If you store and share personal data of thieves (such as photos), this means you are using a black list. Doing so is not permitted without a good reason.

It is up to the police to track down shoplifters. And it is up to the court to determine whether someone has, indeed, committed theft, and if so, to impose a penalty.

Shaming someone in public (such as online or clearly visible in your store) or, say, in a WhatsApp group, can have a major impact on someone's privacy. Especially if that person turns out to be innocent. That is why doing so is prohibited under the GDPR.

However, there are other things you can do to warn your staff and other shopkeepers about a (convicted) shoplifter.

Black list

A black list is a warning system. It allows you to warn your staff about certain people you no longer wish to allow in your store, such as shoplifters. You are permitted to create and use a black list only if you meet the black list requirements.

Displaying photos in a non-public place

You are permitted to show photos of (convicted) thieves or other troublemakers to your staff. This way, your employees know whom to deny access to the store. You are only permitted to display such photos in a place where they are not visible to your customers, such as in the staff canteen.

Want to share? You need a permit

You can also share a black list with other shopkeepers. Would this involve sharing criminal data? If so, you need to obtain a permit from the Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens (AP), the Dutch data protection authority.

Collective store ban model protocol

Are you a shopkeeper or an operator of a hotel, restaurant or cafe who wants to apply for a permit from the AP? You can join the collective store ban model protocol set up by the Centre for Crime Prevention and Public Safety (CCV in Dutch) or the collective catering ban model protocol set up by Koninklijke Horeca Nederland (the Royal Dutch trade association for the hotel and catering industry). Doing so means that you do not need to develop a protocol yourself. Also, joining a collective protocol means that the process for obtaining a permit from the AP goes faster. You will, of course, still need to fully comply with all the requirements set out in the model protocol.

To whom can I turn if I have a question or complaint about an app or a smartphone?

Do you have a question or complaint about the use of your personal data by an app? Or by the operating system of your smartphone or tablet? Then contact the developer of the app or of the operating system first.

Contact the app developer or provider

It does not matter whether the app developer or app provider is located in the Netherlands or abroad. If a developer offers goods or services in Europe, they are subject to European privacy law. As such, this tends to be the case with apps for smartphones and tablets. 

The contact details can often be found through the ‘app store’. Or by looking for the name of the app on the Internet. The developer or provider may also have a website with contact details. Are you unable to find any contact details? Then try to find out who the developer of the operating system of your smartphone or tablet is.

Contact concerning operating system

You can find information about the privacy settings of your operating system through the following links. They also provide contact information in case you have a question or complaint.

Further steps in the case of a question or complaint

Do you have a complaint and are you unable to resolve it together with the developer or provider of the app or operating system? Then you can submit a complaint to the Dutch Data Protection Authority.

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