ComputerWorld reported this morning that a Georgia congressman has introduced a bill that would require mobile app developers to notify users and get consent before gleaning user data from phones and tablets. Dubbed the Application Privacy, Protection and Security Act of 2013, the would-be legislation would demands that developers tell users exactly what categories of data are being recorded, how that information it will be used and with whom it will be shared. As the piece notes, the bill comes in spite of industry lobbying that self-regulation would be more effective than legislation.

It’s worth noting that self-regulation was pretty effective before smartphones gained mass-market adoption. While ringtone vendors like Jamba occasionally got into trouble — largely from targeting under-age users with deceptively marketed content subscriptions — the carriers generally did a reasonable job of keeping their content partners in line. But the carriers’ dominance in the world of apps and content has essentially disappeared, and there no longer is a segment of the industry that has the power and will that the carriers did. Even Apple can’t completely police every feature of every app in its massive App Store, and Google hardly even tries with Google Play.

While self-regulation would be great, there are simply too many players and too many moving parts in an industry that continues to explode. So we’re sure to see legislators and regulators increasingly step in and the market continues to grow. It’s up to app developers — and everybody else in the industry, for that matter — to stay abreast of those coming laws and guidelines.