The Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) has joined the Future of Privacy Forum’s (FPF) Application Privacy Working Group, to help develop privacy principles and best practice for mobile software applications.

The SIIA is a software and digital content industry trade association providing services in government relations, business development, corporate education and intellectual property protection to more than 500 software and technology companies.

The plan is for the guidelines put together by the working group to allow mobile app developers to develop policies to protect personal information in mobile apps.

SIIA VP for government affairs Mark MacCarthy said it’s not always the case that developers are as transparent about their collection, use and protection of consumer data as they could be.

“Mobile applications can use location information to create targeted services that many users highly value. However, continued growth and innovation in the vibrant mobile marketplace is dependent on consumer confidence in the privacy protections provided by mobile application providers,” he said.

The SIIA is joining the FPF project to focus the software industry’s attention on “doing the right thing to protect personal information and to ensure continued growth and innovation in the mobile marketplace,” according to MacCarthy. He added that the SIIA believes that government regulation shouldn’t be necessary to create a trusted environment around mobile applications.

The SIIA is also sponsoring the Future of Privacy Forum ApplicationPrivacy.org project, an education programme to inform app developers about responsible data practices. ApplicationPrivacy.org is also supported by AT&T, Facebook, Google, Intel and Sprint, among others.