China’s Camera Apps May Give Away User Data Beijing -Cyber Security Experts

The most popular video and photo apps that are used by people around the world have their origin in China and cyber-security experts say that there is a large risk of that data coming under the control of Chinese government. These concerns are on the rise as globally people are questioning data protection and privacy issues due to widespread use of photo apps by people of all ages. In the recent times, some tech giants have been penalized by the government for the data theft incidents.

The mobile programs of China have millions of active users but their privacy remains a debatable matter as there is limited emphasis of that factor within US too. The different perceptions about privacy that people have across the globe was evident in Chinese tech giant Baidu’s CEO Robin Li’s interview when he nonchalantly stated that Chinese people are not that sensitive about privacy and are willing to exchange it for efficiency. Evidently if companies do not comply with government request they are likely to face trouble from government.

The recent instant popularity of Russia’s FaceApp aging feature that is the rage across the world has evoked worries about potential collaboration of tech firms with the government. But the CEO of FaceApp, Yaroslav Goncharov has said that Russian government does not have access to any of its database of photos as the firm does not share its data with third parties. But China’s camera apps explicitly affirm that their data is provided to third parties that could be both government and private parties. This is really a serious concern for the app users. During May 2019, China proposed a new policy to punish firms that do not protect user data and breach privacy agreements. But as the country still has vague regulations laws are used as tools by government according to their need for information.