On November 13, the Working Group for Governance of Collection and Use of Personal Information in Violations of Laws and Regulations on Apps reported that recently, the working group discovered that 35 apps have problems with the collection and use of personal information . The list shows that Hubei Office, Sina Weibo, Air Travel, Evergrande Smart Community, Colorful Bear Picture Book, Uxin Used Car, NetEase Snail Book and other apps are listed. The Southern Metropolis reporter noticed that the 35 apps included many government-related apps. In addition, some apps were named twice. The
list shows that Sina Weibo App has problems, including "not listing the purposes and types of personal information collected and used by third-party SDKs such as embedded Tencent Bugly, Taobao, etc.; misleading users to consent to the collection of personal information in an improper way." The problems of Air Travel App include "When applying for the permission to collect personal information such as opening location, the user was not notified of its purpose synchronously; after the user clearly stated that he did not agree with the permission to open the storage, he still frequently asked for the user's consent and interfered with the user Normal use" etc. The reporter from
Nandu noticed that the 35 apps include some government affairs App, such as the "Wanshitong" developed by the Anhui Provincial Data Resources Administration and the "Ningguilai" developed by the Nanjing Public Security Bureau. Local life government service apps such as "Ehui Office" and "Love Shandong" are also listed.
The official website of the Hubei Provincial People's Government shows that the "Ehui Office" App is sponsored by the General Office of the Hubei Provincial People's Government and developed by Chutianyun Company of the province. It is positioned as the preferred window for the people and enterprises in Hubei to do things, and it is integrated with the Hubei government service network. "Internet + government services" platform. The working group reported that the app had problems such as "uploading user accounts and passwords in clear text; when applying for the permission to open the location where personal information can be collected, the user was not notified of its purpose simultaneously."
According to the official website of the Shandong Provincial People's Government, the "Love Shandong" App is the main portal for the mobile terminal of Shandong's government services, which accesses social security, traffic violations, real estate and other high-frequency services for people's livelihood. The working group reported that the app had “not simultaneously informed the user of its purpose when applying for the permission to open the phone, location, etc. to collect personal information; when collecting sensitive personal information such as the user’s ID number, the user was not notified of its purpose simultaneously” And other issues. The reporter from
Nandu also learned that among the 35 apps, the apps operated by the two payment institutions were named twice. The "One Wallet" App operated by Ping An Pay Technology Services Co., Ltd. was named by the App Governance Special Working Group in December 2019 to use personal information in violation of regulations. The “Vertical Brush” App operated by Jialian Payment Co., Ltd. was notified by the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department in August 2019 that there was an over-range collection of user information. In the same month, Jialian Pay’s official WeChat account issued a statement in response that the company made rectifications as soon as it received the monitoring results of the relevant departments and has continuously iterated the App version.
On November 13, the Working Group for Governance of Collection and Use of Personal Information in Violations of App Laws and Regulations stated in a notification that it is recommended that relevant App operators rectify existing problems in a timely manner and report the rectification to the working group within 30 days from now. After 30 days, the working group will verify the rectification and submit the review results to the relevant departments, and deal with the suggestions that cannot be effectively rectified in accordance with the law.
Southern Metropolis Daily (nddaily) reports
Southern Metropolis reporter Wu Jialing
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