Nowadays, the upgrading and iteration speed of electronic products is getting faster and faster. Many people have a lot of old mobile phones and old computers in their homes. How to deal with these waste electronic products has become a difficult problem.
According to the 2021 State of Used Electronic Products Survey, 62% of consumers have 1 to 3 used electronic products, and 38% of consumers have more than 3 models.
When dealing with waste electronics, recycling is a common option.
However, in reality, some recycling agencies are not professional and thorough in the data cleaning of electronic products, and even start a "business" in restoring data, which increases the risk of citizens' personal information leakage and violations of personal privacy.
In view of this, many people let old mobile phones and old computers accumulate at home, and they are reluctant to sell them.
A large number of discarded electronic products are left idle, which is not only a waste of resources, but also a threat to the environment.
How to let people sell old mobile phones and old computers with confidence has become an urgent problem to be solved at present.
Factory reset does not equal complete deletion of information
"I really don't know what to do with it!" Xiao Wang looked at the increasing number of old mobile phones at home, a little distressed.
With the acceleration of the replacement of smart phones, Xiao Wang replaces a mobile phone every two or three years on average, but the mobile phone "can only be in and out", and there are 4 old mobile phones stacked in the home.
The improper disposal of old mobile phones can cause great harm to the environment.
For example, an old mobile phone battery can pollute 60,000 liters of water, and the pollution intensity is 100 times that of ordinary dry batteries. It also contains lead, cadmium, mercury and other heavy metals that are easy to pollute the environment.
At the same time, many components in old mobile phones are rich in precious metals such as gold and silver, and have great potential for reuse. In this sense, recycling is the best choice.
It is understood that recycled old mobile phones generally have three destinations: those that are newer or less damaged are refurbished and flow into the second-hand market; those that are damaged to a certain extent can be dismantled and reused; those that are completely unusable can be used for Refine raw materials.
Most people's old cell phones are sitting idle at home.
Industry data show that in 2021, the social ownership of mobile phones in China will reach 1.856 billion units.
On the one hand, the generation and idle volume of old mobile phones are increasing year by year, and it is expected that the total number of idle mobile phones will reach 6 billion during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period.
On the other hand, the recycling rate of old mobile phone resources is only about 4%.
There are many channels for recycling old mobile phones. Why do people prefer to idle them rather than sell them?
"Idle is a waste of resources, but when I think that recycling may reveal personal privacy, I back away." Xiao Wang admitted frankly.
Worry about personal information leaks is a big reason why many people are reluctant to sell their old phones.
With the popularity of smart phones, mobile phones are no longer a single-purpose communication tool. They carry more and more functions, and increasingly become personal user information terminals, storing a large amount of personal information.
"On the mobile phone, there are not only photos, videos, chat records and other private information of me and my family and friends, but also various investment and financial management, mobile banking and payment software. Once used by criminals, it is too dangerous." He lives in Beijing said Mr. Liu from Nanhu Zhongyuan Community in Chaoyang District.
In order to better protect personal privacy, more and more people click on the "factory reset" that comes with their mobile phones before selling their old mobile phones, or delete files one by one.
Can this operation really avoid the risk of information leakage?
"Restoring the factory settings and deleting files does not mean completely deleting the information." He Yanzhe, deputy director of the Evaluation Laboratory of the Cyber Security Center of the China Electronics Standardization Institute, introduced that deleting a file on a mobile phone, in fact, the system just deletes the indicated path of the file. Ordinary people can't find the file, but the actual content information is still stored inside the phone.
He Yanzhe said that the technical threshold for recovering data is not high at present, and it is not difficult to recover the previous content information in the mobile phone.
From a technical point of view, even if the user has done some simple data clearing before, the deleted information can still be restored, it may just take more time and effort, and the risk of personal information leakage or even being sold still exists.
Data cleaning standards are different and need to be improved urgently
The recycling of discarded electronics, including old mobile phones, has drawn more attention.
In 2011, the "Regulations on the Administration of the Recycling and Disposal of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products" was implemented, and the recycling of waste electronic products was standardized.
However, the Regulations do not provide for the protection of personal information.
"When the "Regulations" were formulated, more attention was paid to protecting the environment, promoting comprehensive utilization of resources and developing circular economy." said Li Shuai, a lecturer at the Law School of Beijing Foreign Studies University. At that time, the degree of social digitization was not high, and the data stored in electronic products was Compared with now, there is a big gap in size and content. At that time, mobile phones did not have such a powerful information integration and interaction function, and the protection of personal information was not as urgent as it is now.
Li Shuai introduced that at the legislative level or industry norms, there is a lack of provisions for the protection of personal information in the recycling of waste electronic products, and the corresponding supervision is also insufficient.
In this way, it provides soil for the breeding of "grey and black products" related to the leakage of personal information.
Reporter interviews found that the electronic product recycling market is a mixed bag.
Taking the recycling of old mobile phones as an example, some users go through mobile phone manufacturers, some choose recycling platforms, and some directly hand them over to roadside stalls for processing.
"Many recycling agencies lack professional technicians and operating standards. Although the information on the mobile phone is deleted, the method is simple and the standards are different, and they have not been deleted." He Yanzhe pointed out that the entire industry currently lacks an evaluation system for the effect of data cleaning, namely Whether data cleaning has been tested and supervised by professional certification bodies, and whether it meets the requirements of personal information protection.
In 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "14th Five-Year Plan for Circular Economy Development", actively deploying and arranging around the data security that people are generally concerned about, and clearly proposing to protect individuals in the entire process of recycling mobile phones, computers and other electronic products. Privacy information security.
In June of this year, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Market Supervision issued the "Regulations on the Recycling of Waste Electrical and Electronic Products (Draft for Comment)", which made specific specifications for the protection of personal information: When recycling electronic products such as used mobile phones and computers that involve personal privacy, operators should face Clean up user personal information, maintain customer privacy, and shall not disclose customer-related information to third parties.
"This regulation in the draft for comments has positive significance and directly responds to the concerns of the people." Li Shuai said that the responsibility for protecting users' privacy information will be given to operators who recycle electronic products involving personal privacy. In other words, if the relevant recycling agencies do not According to the regulations, users have the right to ask them to delete their personal information in person.
Zhou Mingai, an engineer at the Cyber Security Research Institute of CCID Think Tank, also expressed his support for the regulation, believing that the protection of personal information and privacy rights should be given more attention, and the draft of the electronic product recycling specification issued by Beijing will have a demonstration effect and help to urge electronic products The product recycling industry protects personal information well.
Include the recycling of waste electronic products in the category of information protection
China is a major manufacturer and consumer of electronic products. If we can speed up the establishment of an electronic product resource recycling industry system, it will undoubtedly help the country's low-carbon and green process.
Before that, it is necessary to eliminate everyone's worries about selling old mobile phones and old computers.
In terms of legislation, Li Shuai suggested that the recycling of waste electronic products should be included in the category of information protection to increase the illegal cost of personal information leakage.
At the same time, drawing on the existing regulations and practices in various regions, national legal norms at the regulatory level can be formulated first, with information processing in the recycling of waste electronic products as the main standard object, from basic principles, supervision objects, supervision methods and supervision standards, and illegal responsibilities. and so on.
"In terms of supervision, the data security law and the personal information protection law should be used as the basis to clarify the responsibilities of market supervision departments, industry and information departments and other administrative agencies in information protection supervision, and strengthen supervision." Li Shuai said.
He Yanzhe believes that the electronic product recycling industry must make a difference.
"The problem of information leakage in an institution affects the public's trust in the entire industry. It is necessary to improve industry norms, strengthen industry self-discipline, and improve industry access thresholds and practitioners' professional capabilities and legal awareness."
From the perspective of users themselves, it is equally important to cultivate the awareness and ability to protect personal information.
He Yanzhe will do some treatment before every time he sells discarded electronic products.
For example, remove the hard drive of the old computer and keep it, reset the system of the old mobile phone, etc.
Even so, there is still the possibility of information being recovered, but it is safer than doing nothing, he said.
He Yanzhe also suggested that sensitive and secret information should not be stored on the mobile phone as much as possible, and that important information should be deleted as soon as possible after it is stored and used.
Some industry experts reminded that it is best to deal with waste electronic products through large stores or formal platforms, and try to avoid small stores and personal channels.
Nowadays, major mobile phone manufacturers have launched recycling services one after another, promising to ensure the safety of personal information, and some manufacturers will video monitor the entire process of data cleaning.
"As a mobile phone manufacturer, we must give users more choices of data cleaning methods, fully explain the cleaning mechanism and principles to users, and create opportunities to invite everyone to experience advanced cleaning technologies. Otherwise, most users do not understand the logic behind data cleaning. , it is impossible to sell mobile phones with peace of mind." He Yanzhe said.
"The standard for data cleaning needs to be further improved." Li Shuai said that it needs to be clarified to what extent it is safe to clean up.
There should also be detailed specifications for the evaluation and verification of the effect after cleaning.
In addition to common electronic products such as mobile phones and computers, many smart home appliances, toys and other products now also have information storage functions.
He Yanzhe said that enough attention should be paid to this phenomenon, especially recycling institutions and manufacturers, to do a good job of cleaning up a variety of products to better protect the privacy of citizens.
Further reading
● Singapore
Start an e-waste management system
According to statistics, Singapore produces more than 60,000 tons of e-waste every year, but the recycling rate of e-waste has not been high.
Since July last year, Singapore's e-waste management system has been launched.
Under the "Extended Manufacturer Responsibility" framework, Singapore requires manufacturers or importers to be responsible for recycling and disposing of these regulated electrical and electronic product waste.
Recycling and disposal fees apply if regulated electronics are supplied over a certain weight; the higher the market share, the higher the fees.
The local government also cooperated with the German environmental protection group ALBA to set up recycling points and recycling bins across the country to recycle related electronic products.
At present, in some public places such as supermarkets, shopping malls, and community clubs in Singapore, white recycling bins dedicated to recycling batteries, printers, mobile phones, computers and other electronic waste can be seen everywhere.
The public can download the mobile app, scan the QR code on the recycling bin, and upload a photo of the e-waste that is about to be thrown in to earn points.
These points can be exchanged for vouchers, which can be used to pay for online car-hailing, food delivery, shared bicycles, etc.
Electronics retailers also play an important role in Singapore's e-waste management.
The government stipulates that electronics retailers with an area of 300 square meters or more must set up recycling points in the store.
● EU
Improve legislation to reduce e-waste
The European Parliament passed a bill on the right to repair products this year to improve the durability and repairability of electrical appliances.
The European Parliament believes that the right to repair products is an important part of the EU's Circular Economy Action Plan.
Effective maintenance rights should fully consider the product life cycle, and product design and production processes should be standardized.
E-waste in Europe has grown rapidly in recent years.
The EU authoritative organization believes that to completely solve this problem, the EU should be committed to making electrical appliances "repairable" and "easy to repair".
A survey conducted by the European Union in April showed that when there is a problem with home appliances, 77% of EU consumers' first choice is to solve the problem through repair, and 79% of EU consumers believe that manufacturers should be required to improve product repairability or Replace specific parts.
Currently, as part of product labelling, the European Parliament requires manufacturers to provide QR codes and digital product passports with information on product ingredients to improve the chances of products being reused and recycled.
When selling products, merchants should inform consumers of product maintainability, expected service life, difficulty in obtaining spare parts, and maintenance services.
For non-compliant products, the European Parliament has called for a joint liability mechanism between manufacturers and sellers.
The EU introduced a new bill this time, not only hopes that products can be designed to be more durable and safer, but also hope that product parts are easier to disassemble.
The EU also plans to ban the use of glue-bonded batteries in electronic products from next year to facilitate replacement by consumers, while requiring that the system update of smartphones does not slow down the overall operation speed of the mobile phone, and the update is reversible.
(Comprehensive reports from our reporters Liu Hui and Niu Ruifei)
Liu Hui, Niu Ruifei