Developers are creating new ways for online users to see how their personal data is used by online companies. Independent researcher Ashkan Soltani has helped create MobileScope "as a proof-of-concept tool" that automates the monitoring of "mobile devices for surprising traffic and highlighting potentially privacy-revealing flows," according to a TechRepublic interview. Meanwhile, three Yale students have created Privacy Simplified. The service allows website owners to generate a series of icons to help users more easily understand a company's privacy policy. Author Cory Doctorow said the creators have "done a good job," but "without a compliance mechanism, it's likely that any site that adopts this will only display the icons for their 'good' policies and not show the 'bad' ones."
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