The US National Telecommunications & Information Administration (NTIA) held a meeting to discuss app privacy issues, which according to National Journal was dominated by “process”.

According to several reports, while the meeting was intended to deal with the potential substance of a privacy policy, a “small group of consumer advocates” threatened to walk out unless various administrative issues were addressed, including “whether there would be detailed briefings from industry on what sorts of data are being collected by mobile applications and how they are used”.

Multichannel News said that Apple, Google and Microsoft have agreed to brief these parties on the state of the industry, before turning to the meat of the debate.

NTIA is hosting what it describes as a “multistakeholder process regarding mobile application transparency”. Its intention is to “develop a code of conduct to provide transparency in how companies providing applications and interactive services for mobile devices handle personal data”.

Another NTIA app meeting is scheduled for next week.