High-end Android Chinese phones are putting consumers’ privacy at danger, according to a new research. Computer experts from many institutions have found that well-known Chinese phones manufacturers like Xiaomi, OnePlus, and Oppo Realme are gathering a ton of private user information through their operating systems and pre-installed apps.
Researchers are worried that the gadgets are providing a significant quantity of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to the device makers, service providers like Baidu, and Chinese mobile network operators.
The data is also being obtained by private businesses. This raises severe concerns regarding mobile users’ privacy in China given the tight ties between business and the Chinese government.
The researchers performed network analysis on gadgets bought from Chinese manufacturers under the assumption that the user was a “privacy-aware consumer” who had chosen not to send analytics and personalization data to providers and who didn’t use cloud storage or any other optional third-party services.
Phone numbers, permanent device IDs, geolocation data, and information on social connections are examples of the PII that is gathered. This implies that the location, identity, and social connections of the device user would be readily known to the recipients of this data.
There is no option to opt out of the data gathering, which is taking place without the user’s knowledge or consent. Additionally, despite various privacy rules in other countries, the collecting continues even when the device and user depart China.
The study’s conclusions emphasize the need for more stringent privacy regulations in order to boost public confidence in technology firms, many of which are partially controlled by the government.
The results also seem to go against China’s recently passed privacy regulation, which is meant to shield Chinese customers from data collecting without their knowledge and is modeled after the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The results of the study give precise information on the methods used by Chinese phone makers and independent websites to get user data.
