OPPO, Xiaomi and Redmi: “they spy on Chinese users”, the disturbing result of an international research
OPPO, Xiaomi and Redmi: “they spy on Chinese users”, the disturbing result of an international research.
The report only concerns China, which however is also by far the largest and most important market for Android smartphone manufacturers.
A group of researchers has published a detailed study that reveals a disturbing discovery: the main Chinese smartphone manufacturers actively spy on users, collecting a worrying number of sensitive information, which would also be shared with various third-party companies, including Baidu.
The report only concerns the Chinese market and there are no reasons to think that the practices denounced by the researchers are also applied in Europe, where extremely stringent privacy regulations are in force.
A study published by a team of computer scientists from several universities has revealed that phone makers such as Xiaomi, OnePlus and Oppo Realme, some of the most popular in China, systematically collect large amounts of sensitive user data.
The profiling would take place through their respective operating systems – all custom versions of Android -, as well as through some pre-installed applications on your phones. “The devices in question send a worrying amount of Personally Identifiable Information (PII) not only to the device vendor but also to service providers such as Baidu and Chinese mobile network operators,” the research shows.
The researchers pointed out the inadequacy of China’s privacy regulations, which is by far the largest and most important market for Android smartphone manufacturers.
