Last week, at the American Bar Association’s annual meeting, FTC Commissioner Julie Brill said that mobile application developers are ignoring its regulatory guidance with respect to consumer privacy, telling attendees to expect enforcement soon.

A recent report from the Future of Privacy Forum showed that nearly three quarters of the most popular mobile apps have no privacy policy at all. This market segment has fallen far short of the clear, comprehensive, and transparent privacy notices that are needed to avoid unfairness or deception within the meaning of Section 5 of the FTC Act, Brill said.

“We will soon be seeing some enforcement actions on apps,” Brill said. “Section 5 covers apps—they are not excluded.”

Commissioner Brill acknowledged that delivering a privacy policy on a mobile screen is more challenging than on a full-sized screen, which has proven problematic in itself. But the challenge does not excuse noncompliance, she noted. “The screen is small, but Section 5 applies,” Brill remarked. Developers should focus on the Commission’s advice to develop simplified notices, icons, and alternative delivery formats — including layered notices for more in-depth information that a consumer can access at his or her discretion, Brill added.

Those recommendations were part of the Commission’s “privacy re-think,” as Brill called it.