App Start Up Basics: Compliance by Design The “wild west” of app building is long gone. Emerging privacy laws and rapidly proliferating best-practices make it clear that just updating app notices and policies is not enough. Compliance must be built into the front and back end tech stack and it must be done with technical …

We are announcing our second CleanApps.Org Board Election due to take place within the next 30 days. There are 3 seats up for re-election this time around!

We have an exciting webinar about the new Edge Chromium Store! (See video at bottom of page) Hear directly from the Microsoft Edge Chromium team! Learn the answers to these questions and more: Are there high-level goals for the types of extensions Microsoft is hoping to see created and published? Or the types of extensions …

CleanApps.Org was interviewed by Digital Trends! Hear from one of our original founders and board president, Bogdan Odulinski, one of the original founders on what we are all about. Click to view episode 328 on Digital Trends Live to see CleanApps.Org’s Board President, Bogdan Odulinski, interviewed by Greg Nibler. (Be sure to scroll down to …

Julio Rivera attended our annual summit in 2020 and found a growing and engaged audience of app makers learning from each other and guest experts addressing new ways to create and promote apps worthy of the public’s trust.

Whether you are a startup app maker or a veteran app promoter, PR can play a critical role for your business. So we are honored to have Ed Zitron, CEO of EZPR, a veteran in the tech industry lead our next webinar event during which you will learn how PR can benefit your app business. (For those that attended our Vegas CleanApps.Org Summit 2020, this webinar will cover the agenda item we were unable to fit into the conference due to unprecedented engagement from our attendees causing us to run out of time.) Click the button below so you don’t miss this critical event when Ed will cover the following.

Apps CleanApps.org wants to make sure your apps thrive in our growing digital world. Someone should have told the people that created the Iowa caucus app about this. Read the Knowtechie.com article by clicking below.

Read the Interview with Lou Da Re, Executive Director at CleanApps.org. A look at making better, compliant apps and the resources that make it easier to understand by Josiah Motley on January 20, 2020

New Year = New Vegas Summit! For those that have signed up with us since our November announcement, and for those that have forgotten over the holidays, this post is to (re)-announce our upcoming CleanApps Summit 2020. It will take place at the Linq Hotel on Sunday January 26th, 2020. We had a very successful …

These free trial and other policy changes in the payment processing, anti-virus, advertising, and app marketplace worlds mean app vendors have to adapt.

These free trial and other policy changes in the payment processing, anti-virus, advertising, and app marketplace worlds mean app vendors have to adapt.

Announcing our member-only web conference for your opportunity to get the inside scoop and perspective on how this newsworthy event may impact your business. Most of you are probably aware of Section 230 (https://is.gd/gIxPga), the loosely defined legislation which, in summary, says that “No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the …

We’ve heard many people complain that email marketing doesn’t work, but after you hear from special guest Olivier Merz of Badsender.com, you may well change your mind. So please join us for the next CleanApps.org Mastermind Session on Wednesday, June 26, at 9 am Pacific, 12 Noon Eastern, and 6 pm Paris time. And learn …

Have you ever had your app blocked by one or two anti-virus companies, even though you’ve done everything you could to make your app compliant, and when dozens of other AVs have no problem with it? This abuse happens because of a poorly drafted and ambiguous portion of a United States federal law: Section …

On Thursday, April 25, we concluded another webinar aimed at helping CleanApps.org members, app vendors, and affiliates prosper. The live video of the webinar, Part II in our Mastermind Series on “Controlling Wayward Affiliates,” is available for viewing at the end of this post. I recommend that anybody in the downloading space watch the presentation. …

Welcoming Teala Comer to the CleanApps.org Board Congratulations to Teala Comer, the newest member of the CleanApps.org Board of Directors! Teala replaces Kyle Reagan, who recently left the software downloading industry and resigned from our board to take a technology job with the Victoria Ferry Service. Our other four members of the CleanApps.org Board – …

I travelled to Spain last month to meet with government and university leaders and speak about bringing a new Rule of Law to the internet. Invited by the Galician Department of Technology and the University of La Coruna Department of Economics, Business and Cybersecurity, I spoke before energetic audiences of technologists, students, faculty and other …

Read Julio Rivera’s Newmax.com article, covering how industry standards driven by a coalition of internet businesses is not only possible but required.

Please join us for Part 2 of our Controlling Affiliates Mastermind Webinar series which will take place on Thursday, April 25th. Last month, Will Treves shared how Ask manages search marketing affiliates that promote browser extensions on their behalf. For Controlling Affiliates Part 2, we’ll feature special guests Alvin Estevez of Enigma Software, and Dennis …

We just finished another terrific webinar today. The subject: How to Control Wayward Affiliates. Special guest and CleanApps.org member Will Treves of Ask generously shared what he called “the Ask playbook” on how to combat this very difficult and perennial challenge. The presentation and conversation were lively, and Will fielded a number of questions …

Surprise: Your website may be blocked and you don’t even know it! Here’s how to find out Did you know that your website may be blocked without your knowledge? That people who click on your link can’t view the contents, and this can happen even if they clicked on the actual URL or otherwise tried …

The Financial Times recently published an Op-Ed by former U.S. Deputy Secretary of the Treasury and Federal Reserve Board Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin. It argues that cross-industry work by organizations like AppEsteem.com, CleanApps.org, and many cybersecurity companies to promote standards and foster a fair app marketplace is a boon for consumers and could potentially transform the internet.

Because it immunizes ISPs for liability that others produce on their websites (think YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook), Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 has been the subject of extensive scholarly debate. On the one hand, it’s praised for enabling the modern internet to revolutionize society and become a haven for free expression …

If Yes, for How Long? For the last several months, many responsible businesses have been working like mad to comply with new app requirements that AppEsteem – a company that certifies apps – and Microsoft announced (regarding Unwanted Software) they would apply in their review of apps. Perhaps the most controversial subject relates to …

Evangelizing for a Safer Internet At the invitation of former Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Treasury and former Governor of the Federal Reserve Board, Sarah Bloom Raskin, I spoke two weeks ago to a cybersecurity class that Governor Raskin is teaching at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The class is …

Helping App Vendors Respect Consumer Privacy With privacy concerns swirling worldwide, and with advertising platforms including Google and Bing announcing new compliance requirements for advertisers, it was great to devote our most recent webinar to GDPR and privacy compliance. The webinar featured Alex Lloyd from OneTrust, one of the leading providers of privacy management …

Imagine you have created a fantastic app that your customers love. You are just starting to see real business growth. Until one fateful day, when you notice that sales conversions are down, refund requests are way up, and your customer service queue shows some customers are complaining that their anti-virus software is removing your app …

CleanApps.org Announces Formation Amid Growing Concerns About Internet Privacy and Security. Aiming to Create a Safer Internet, First-of-its-Kind Non-Profit Group Promotes a Safe App Marketplace that Protects Consumers November 6, 2018, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON – CleanApps.org, the first of-its-kind non-profit group focused on curing some of the most intractable consumer-protection ills on the internet while …

We hosted another rousing webinar this past Wednesday, with more than 50 participants engaged in a super active and eye-opening discussion about the new AppEsteem and Microsoft requirements regarding apps that offer free scans, and how leaders in the app industry are responding. Exhibit A on the success of the webinar: there was so much …

Congratulations to the two newest board members of CleanApps.org, Gary Guseinov and Rob Charlebois, who emerged as the winners in a closely contested election. Both Gary and Rob have decades of deep industry experience and expertise, and we’re delighted to welcome them to the Board as leaders of the movement for a prosperous and fair …

The first CleanApps.org webinar is in the books! It took place on August 30 and featured participation from a diverse group of stakeholders: leaders from Microsoft, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), consumer rights groups, AppEsteem, security companies, call centers, advertising networks, and app vendors. Our goal with the webinar was to provide more details …

We have news to report from one of our members regarding what appears to be new enforcement focus on Bing advertising campaigns. Based on what was shared by our member, Bing is taking steps to enforce against advertisers who may engage in potentially deceptive ad practices, relying on previously published policies that “the Bing Editorial Guidelines …

As I wrote in my email to members before departing for Philadelphia, Kyle Reagan and I had the privilege of speaking on July 10 at a conference at the Wharton School of Business. We presented on a subject near and dear to the hearts of everybody who’s supportive of CleanApps.org’s mission: cleaning up the app …

I presented today at the Clean Software Summit in California on a problem that has bedeviled responsible app makers and harmed consumers for far too long: Detractor Web Sites. As I explained, wayward affiliates are typically behind the creation of these web sites. They use inaccurate and disparaging marketing to unfairly monetize traffic or sell …

And Inviting More to Join! Exhilarated by the enthusiasm of our first 20 members, CleanApps.org is now seeking other app makers and related businesses who want to join our mission to create a fair and profitable app marketplace and an internet where consumers are respected. We look forward to getting everyone engaged and contributing to …

We’re thrilled to announce today that CleanApps.org has officially launched. A non-profit organization, we already have bylaws, membership agreement, Board of Directors, and a full-time executive director (for more about the team, see https://www.cleanapps.org/our-team/). And we have a stirring mission: helping responsible app makers (and related businesses) thrive, while ensuring a fair app marketplace where …