Mobile operators recognise the importance of ensuring customer confidence and trust, and believe that appropriately protecting customers’ personal data is critical to achieving these goals. Safeguards to promote trust and protect personal data should derive from a combination of legal and regulatory frameworks, internationally agreed approaches, and industry action. This range of safeguards also applies in the context of the AI for Impact initiative, where mobile operators are responsibly harnessing the power of big data to tackle epidemics, natural disasters, and environmental pollution.

The GSMA and the mobile industry are committed to the advancement of responsible data practices. For example, the GSMA has developed a set of Mobile Privacy Principles, which describe the way in which mobile consumers’ privacy should be respected and protected when they use mobile applications and services that access, use or collect their personal data. The principles do not replace or supersede applicable law, but are based on recognised and internationally accepted principles on privacy and data protection.

The GSMA have also developed the Mobile Privacy and Big Data Analytics : AI for Impact Considerations paper. This reflects core privacy considerations in the context of the Big Data for Social Good initiative, which are underpinned by the GSMA Mobile Privacy Principles. This is described in more detail in section 4.1 of this digital toolkit.

This AI for Impact Considerations paper was adapted from the earlier GSMA paper entitled Mobile Privacy and Big Data Analytics (2017), which includes considerations intended to encourage good data privacy practices in the context of big data analytics.

In response to Covid-19, the GSMA published the Covid-19 Privacy Guidelines to promote adherence to international data protection best practice. These guidelines reflect recommendations on how the mobile industry can maintain trust while responding to governments and public health agencies requests for assistance during the pandemic.

These materials form part of a broader array of GSMA privacy resources and initiatives, which are described in detail in the following links: