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China attaches great importance to the protection of personal information, according to IT vice-minister Liu Liehong. Photo: AFP
TechPolicy

China drafts new regulations to curb excessive data collection by smartphone apps

  • Government attaches ‘great importance to the protection of personal information’, IT vice-minister says
  • IT ministry on Friday ordered 26 apps to take remedial action after they were found to have illegally accessed users’ microphones and contact lists
China technology
Iris Deng
Iris Deng
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China is drafting new regulations to hold apps accountable for collecting excessive amounts of user data and forcing people to consent to their actions.

A provisional regulation, drawn up by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), will include 22 articles based on the principles of informed consent and data minimisation, according to a report by state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday.

Under those principles, smartphone apps will be required to tell users in plain language about their policies on processing personal information, and request their permission to access and use it. The apps should collect only personal data that is necessary and within the scope of the users’ consent.

Any companies that breach the regulations will be punished, which may include having their product removed from app stores, according to the CCTV report.

Companies that breach the regulations will be punished and may have their product removed from app stores. Photo: AFP

According to a statement on the MIIT’s website, vice-minister Liu Liehong told industry representatives on Friday that his department would speed up the release of the provisional regulation.

The Communist Party and government “attached great importance to the protection of personal information”, he was quoted as saying.

The priority was tackling issues of concern to users, including the abuse of microphone permissions, accessing photo albums without users’ permission, and excessive access to users’ contact lists, he said.

Beijing has been working to stamp out personal privacy breaches in the world’s largest internet market, with nearly 1 billion users. The government last year drafted the Personal Information Protection Law, which sets fines of up to 50 million yuan (US$7.7 million), or 5 per cent of a company’s annual revenue, for such offences.

On Friday, the MIIT ordered 26 apps to take remedial action by Wednesday after they were found to have illegally accessed users’ microphones and contact lists.

The offenders included UC Browser, which is backed by Alibaba Group, which also owns the South China Morning Post, and the Tencent-backed QQ Pinyin Input.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: China drafts rules to curb collection of data by apps
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