# Static Analysis for Android GDPR Compliance Assurance

**Authors:** Mugdha Khedkar  
**arXiv:** [2303.09606](https://arxiv.org/abs/2303.09606)  
**Date:** 2023-03-16  
**Summary page:** https://www.summarizepaper.com/en/arxiv-id/2303.09606v1/

## Key points

- The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has made data protection a crucial aspect of Android application development.
- App developers are required to protect the data collected from users according to legal frameworks, but they have limited tool support to ensure compliance throughout the development process.
- Manual and expensive privacy policy compliance checks are prone to errors, and there is a significant gap between legal privacy statements in English text and technical measures used by Android apps to protect user privacy.
- Mugdha Khedkar's thesis titled "Static Analysis for Android GDPR Compliance Assurance" explores the extent to which static analysis can help answer important questions regarding data protection.
- The main goal is to design a tool-based approach that aids app developers and auditors in ensuring data protection in Android applications through automated static program analysis.
- This research aims to bridge the gap between legal requirements and technical implementation, providing an efficient solution for app developers and auditors to comply with GDPR regulations while protecting user privacy.
- The study will be presented at the ICSE 2023 Doctoral Symposium (International Conference on Software Engineering).

## Summary

The European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has made data protection a crucial aspect of Android application development. App developers are required to protect the data collected from users according to legal frameworks, but they have limited tool support to ensure compliance throughout the development process. Although many Android applications state their privacy policy, manual and expensive privacy policy compliance checks are prone to errors, and there is a significant gap between legal privacy statements in English text and technical measures used by Android apps to protect user privacy. In this thesis titled "Static Analysis for Android GDPR Compliance Assurance," Mugdha Khedkar explores the extent to which static analysis can help answer important questions regarding data protection. The main goal is to design a tool-based approach that aids app developers and auditors in ensuring data protection in Android applications through automated static program analysis. This research aims to bridge the gap between legal requirements and technical implementation, providing an efficient solution for app developers and auditors to comply with GDPR regulations while protecting user privacy. The study will be presented at the ICSE 2023 Doctoral Symposium (International Conference on Software Engineering).