China
through a variety of pre-installed apps on phones
New research published by Gizmodo revealed that the best Android phones sold in China are riddled with spyware. The study showed that high-end Android phones sold in China are a complete privacy nightmare.
New research indicates that users of the best selling Android devices in China are having their personal data stolen on a large scale. The theft of their personal data, which takes place without notice or consent, can easily lead to continuous tracking of users and easy exposure of their identities.
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A study published by computer scientists at several different universities revealed that phone makers like Xiamoi, OnePlus, and Oppo Realme, which are some of the most popular phone makers in China, collect huge amounts of sensitive user data via their operating systems, as well as a variety of pre-installed apps on phones.
The data is also collected by a variety of other private actors, and researchers fear that the devices in question are “sending an alarming amount of personally identifiable information not only to the device vendor but also to service providers such as Baidu and to mobile network operators in China.” Given the close relationship between the private industry and the Chinese government, it is more than enough to raise the specter of broader surveillance concerns of mobile phone users in China.
The research indicated that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube suffer from service outages at the same time.
For the researchers, there is clearly some work to be done when it comes to respecting the privacy of Chinese users. “Overall, our findings paint a troubling picture of the state of user data privacy in the world’s largest Android market, and highlight the urgent need for stricter privacy controls to increase ordinary people’s trust in technology companies, many of which are partly state-owned.”
The researchers experimented with a number of devices purchased from manufacturers in China and ran network analysis on them to understand the relevant data leak. In general, the researchers assumed that the operator of the device would be a “privacy-conscious consumer,” who chose not to send analytics and personalization data to service providers and not use cloud storage or “other optional third-party services.”
The personally identifiable information collected includes very sensitive things, including basic user information such as phone numbers and persistent device identifiers, geolocation data, data related to “social connections” – such as contacts and their phone numbers, phone metadata and text, as found the study.
In other words, the recipients of this data will have a very clear picture of who is using a particular device, where they are doing it, and who they are talking to.
Gizmodo has reached out to the respective phone manufacturers to request comment. No response has been received from them as of the date of publication of this report.
