Transparencia y protección de datos en aplicaciones móviles en Ecuador: Evaluación de la difusión de políticas de protección de datos en aplicaciones móviles.

Abstract

The collection of personal data has increased significantly with the proliferation of mobile devices, reaching 55.6% of the Ecuadorian population. These devices collect a vast amount of data with little transparency, putting privacy at risk. The Organic Law for the Protection of Personal Data (LOPDP), in effect since May 2021, regulates the processing of this data to balance the legitimate use of information and the protection of privacy. The LOPDP requires organizations to implement data protection policies and penalizes non-compliance with fines ranging from 0.1% to 0.7% of their turnover. This thesis aims to determine whether organizations that provide services through mobile applications to Ecuadorian users comply with the dissemination of data protection policies, as stipulated by the LOPDP. To achieve this, the theoretical framework related to personal data protection regulations in Ecuador is first reviewed, with an emphasis on the transparency requirements for the dissemination of data protection policies. Subsequently, criteria for evaluating these privacy policies are established. Once the criteria are defined, the necessary data for analyzing their compliance is identified. With the data defined, software artifacts are implemented or adapted to obtain relevant information for the compliance analysis. Next, the environment is configured, the number of applications is determined, and they are classified into potentially sensitive categories, including both international and Ecuadorian applications. Finally, the compliance analysis is carried out based on all the information collected.