Review
of Public Opinions Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice on Carrying out a Special Rectification Action to Promote App Infringement of Users’ Rights and Interests in Depth" (hereinafter referred to as the "Notice"), requiring in-depth promotion of technology management integration, strengthening supervision and inspection, and urging relevant companies to strengthen APP personal information protection in a timely manner Rectify and eliminate outstanding issues such as illegal collection, use of user personal information, harassment of users, deception and misleading users, and insufficient implementation of application distribution platform management responsibilities, and purify the APP application space. (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology website)
Xiaoxin Comments
01 58 APPs were notified to focus on rectifying and processing user personal information in violation of regulations.
On July 24, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology notified the third batch of 58 APPs that violated user rights and had not yet completed rectification. Among them, Tianhong Fund, Qunar, VISTA, Kuaigou Taxi, Jiayuan, etc. are on the list. The issues involved include privately collecting personal information, privately sharing with third parties, and excessively requesting permissions.
On the same day, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Notice", deciding to carry out a special rectification action to promote APP infringement of users' rights and interests, strengthen supervision and inspection, and timely rectify and eliminate all kinds of infringements of user rights and interests. In terms of time deployment, the "Notice" requires that the national APP technology testing platform management system be launched before the end of August 2020, and the testing work covering 400,000 mainstream APPs will be completed before December 10. The "Notice" clearly stated that the targets of this special action include: APP service providers, software tool development kit (SDK) providers and application distribution platforms. Specifically, Internet information service providers that can download, install, and upgrade application software, developers of third-party tools in mobile apps, application stores, download, installation, and upgrade distribution service platforms are all within the scope of rectification. In terms of tasks, focus on rectifying APP and SDK's illegal handling of user personal information, setting up barriers, frequently harassing users, deceiving and misleading users, and failing to implement the responsibility of the application distribution platform. Including collecting personal information in violation of regulations, collecting personal information beyond the scope, using personal information in violation of regulations, forcing users to use the targeted push function, compulsory, frequent, and excessive requesting of permissions for APP, frequent and associated startup of APP, deceiving and misleading users to download APP, deceiving and misleading users Provide personal information, clearly indicate that the APP information on the application distribution platform is not in place, and the application distribution platform management responsibilities are not in place, including 10 specific tasks.
02 Personal information protection legislation is urgently needed to rectify APP infringement
Behind the illegal collection of personal information by APP, there are huge commercial benefits hidden. Most of the back-end operators of various apps are Internet companies. The accumulation of massive user information is an important means of attracting investment. This means that the more personal information of users, the more valuable the app. According to a data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, as of the end of 2018, the total number of apps monitored on the market reached 4.49 million. Among them, the number of games applications is about 1.38 million, ranking first in terms of number scale, and life services, e-commerce applications, and theme wallpaper applications are ranked second to fourth, with application sizes reaching 542,000, 421,000 and 37.4 respectively Ten thousand models. While these apps provide convenience, they also peek into personal privacy, and phenomena such as forced authorization, excessive claims, and misleading users' consent are common.
The "App Personal Information Leakage Survey Report" released by the China Consumers Association in August 2018 showed that over 80% of the respondents had experienced personal information leakage. Among them, unauthorized collection of personal information and deliberate disclosure of information by operators are the main reasons for the disclosure of personal information of consumers. Another "100 Apps Personal Information Collection and Privacy Policy Evaluation Report" released in November of the same year showed that as many as 91 of the 100 apps that participated in the survey had excessive collection of user personal information. The leakage of personal information has brought great security risks and social risks. Once such information is obtained by lawbreakers, it may be frequently harassed by various advertisements, or fall into the trap of routine loans or other fraud. The "APP Personal Information Leakage Situation" released by the China Consumers Association in 2018 shows that after personal information was leaked, about 86.5% of the respondents had received harassment by sales calls or text messages, and about 75.0% of the respondents received fraudulent calls. , About 63.4% of respondents received spam. The chaotic app collection of personal information in violation of regulations has also attracted official attention. The pace of App special governance has been accelerating in the past two years. In January 2019, the Cyberspace Administration and other four departments jointly issued the "Announcement on Launching a Special Governance for the Collection and Use of Personal Information in Violations of App Laws", and decided to organize a nationwide special control over the collection and use of personal information in violation of App laws and regulations; in July this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology The "Notice" was issued, and it was decided to carry out a special rectification action to promote APP infringement of user rights and interests, strengthen supervision and inspection, and timely rectify and eliminate all kinds of infringements on user rights and interests. At the institutional level, in 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China will successively draft a series of system documents such as the "Data Security Management Measures" and the "Basic Norms for the Collection of Personal Information by Mobile Internet Applications (App)"; in June this year, the 2020 legislative work plan was announced to the public, personal information The protection law is included in the plan, and the draft has now been formed. A series of system documents provide a solid system guarantee for regulating APP's collection and use of personal information. With the implementation of relevant laws in the future, mobile Internet personal information protection will be on the right track.