back to article China cracks down on ‘excessive’ user data harvesting, gives 33 apps ten days to clean up their acts

China says it has identified 33 apps that illegally collect information not necessary to their services, and has given their operators ten days to perform “rectification”. The apps – including some from Chinese web giants Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent – were told of the deadline in a May 1st announcement from the Cyberspace …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Meh

    Yes?

    It sounds like a good step, although it undoubtedly doesn't apply to the Chinese government's collection of data.

    Then again, if the American government would introduce a similar regulation I'd appreciate it, even though it wouldn't apply to our own government Agencies.

    Something is better than nothing.

    1. Brian Miller

      Re: Yes?

      I think you mean "¥€$"

      If the companies are "transparent" as the Chinese government would like, then all data is aggregated on the government's behalf, without any withholding. Or maybe it could be called data hoarding.

      No, all of this data is sold on for advertising, in the vain belief that more data means more sales.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Yes?

      Odd how China is again putting their people's protection first when the West uses divide and conquer to keep the rich free to abuse those below them.

      Perhaps once China has bought up all the failure that is western capitolism then there can be a return to the path of equality.

      Certainly all I see in the UK is disunity, growing hatred of our peers and the desperate stamping of the fingers of those who have contributed to the common good for years but are now seen as an expensive burden that needs to be culled.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Yes?

        "Odd how China is again putting their people's protection first when the West uses divide and conquer..."

        Yeah, China doesn't divide and conquer - it shoves all dissenters into a concentration camp.

        Sorry, detention camp. Er, re-education centre. Actually, now I've double-checked its a rape centre.

        https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-55794071

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Yes?

          @a/cYeah, China doesn't divide and conquer - it shoves all dissenters into a concentration camp.

          Sorry, detention camp. Er, re-education centre. Actually, now I've double-checked its a rape centre.

          https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-55794071

          As opposed to for profit rape centres called prisons?

          Extraordinary rendition

          Guantanamo Bay detention camp

          There is good and bad in ALL governments

          1. Potemkine! Silver badge

            Re: Yes?

            Some are worst than others.

            Democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

            China's government killed and continues to kill a whole part of its own population: the Great Leap Forward (between 23 to 55 millions deaths), the Cultural Revolution (20 millions deaths), persecution of uygurs....

            There's no Laogai in western democracies.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Yes?

          That's not the Han Clan in the prison camps.

          The point is that the CCP is using their power to prevent the biggest companies from monopolizing the economy and stunting growth. The CCP is doing more to enforce a level capitalist playing field in their domestic internet economy than the US govt can do in it's own.

          Nobody is saying the CCP are doing it out of altruism. They are doing it to protect their own power - and to make their economy more dynamic, which also enhances their power.

          That should be a wake up call.

      2. Blackjack Silver badge

        Re: Yes?

        https://duckduckgo.com/?q=china+social+credit+system

        The Chinese government just wants the monopoly on the data, that's all.

  2. redpawn

    When will we

    have our governments do the same? Though a stopwatch might just need access to your camera and microphone to work properly.

    1. Gene Cash Silver badge

      Re: When will we

      Christ... if America did this, and MEANT it (i.e. no loopholes for big corporations) then I might have a heart attack.

      If America did it in TEN DAYS then I'd know for sure someone's pulling my leg. Congress couldn't do something in 10 days if their collective lives depended on it.

      Double kudos to China.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "if their collective lives depended on it!

        Well, in China that's exactly what happens - their lives depends truly on quickly fulfilling the Dear Leader desires. On the other hands, in US and other countries the Dear Leaders became the billionaires running some companies.

      2. throe a. wai

        Re: When will we

        The 10 days line is marketing. No way in hell they would drop such a hammer on their flagship tech companies. You can rest assured all companies were not only notified ahead of time, but that they had a working replacement in place and ready to roll out by the time the announcement was made public.

        That said, I too want :(

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: When will we

      or a torch

  3. Denarius
    Meh

    Getting weirder

    yep, when China speaks of slowing slurping, it is completely unexpected. But then, is this real news or a fake item to cover for the centralised slurping all governments long to do if not doing ?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Getting weirder

      It's the pot calling the kettle black.

      Just as the Chinese Communist Party doesn't want any religions or other organizations (e.g. unions) that are not under it's control & might become platforms for opposition to it's grip on power, it doesn't want any data collecting organizations to know more than it does.

    2. Danny Boyd

      Re: Getting weirder

      Government slurping is always there, no matter where you live. All governments strive for better internal surveillance and better external intelligence. It's like second law of thermodynamics: just like the entropy ever grows, any given government tries to reach as much totalitarian mode of operation as possible.

    3. bombastic bob Silver badge
      Big Brother

      Re: Getting weirder

      how do you spell "Irony" again?

      (maybe this was meant to confuse us...)

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    They might then check out the people making remote controlled floodlights

    You can buy Wifi-controlled LED colour floodlights on Amazon, and I bought a couple - which went back about 30 minutes after I bought them and powered them up for test.

    The problems:

    1 - they're exclusively controlled via an account you have to make on some server. In other words, server closes, lights become useless as there's no local control, and that's aside from any control and disclosure issues;

    2 - according to iOS, the app you need to use for controlling them wants access to:

    - Location

    - User content

    - Health & Fitness data

    - Contact Info

    - Identifies

    - Diagnostics

    Apart from all the other things it has no rational reason to access, what business does a floodlight have with my health?!?

    Unbelievable.

    I have left out the product link to protect El Reg from lawyers, but it's available if anyone wants it for research or a juicy article.

  5. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    "No wonder Facebook doesn’t operate behind the Great Firewall"

    And if it did, El Zuck had better not respond to any convocation to explain himself.

    Contrary to US Congress, which he has brushed off and ignored more than once, I doubt China would be so accepting of his lies and would probably lock him up until changes were made.

    One can always dream.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    >slap head< icon

    Only governments are allowed to collect excessive user data. Third parties might make it available to subversive elements or even to foreigners, and we can't have that in a people's democracy, now can we?

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