Personal information is not the "tang monk meat" of the app
Collect personal information in violation of regulations, use personal information in violation of regulations, deceive and mislead users to download apps, compulsory, frequent and excessive requests for permissions by apps, and collect personal information beyond the scope... Recently, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized a third-party testing agency to test mobile phone applications, urging problems Rectification of enterprises.
Up to now, 157 apps that infringe on user rights have not yet been rectified.
It is understood that this is the tenth time that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has carried out a centralized inspection and notified relevant situations.
In the ten batches of inspections organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Tencent App Store, Xiaomi App Store, Pea Pod, OPPO App Store, and Huawei App Market ranked the top in the proportion of problems found, and the main responsibility of platform management was not implemented.
At the end of 2019, the National Internet Information Office, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other four departments jointly issued the "Methods for the Determination of the Collection and Use of Personal Information in Violations of App Laws and Regulations", which clarified that "before obtaining user consent, start collecting personal information or open the authority to collect personal information" "The type of personal information collected or the permissions that can be opened for collecting personal information have nothing to do with existing business functions." "Because the user does not agree to collect non-essential personal information or open non-essential permissions, refusing to provide business functions" is a violation of the collection and use of personal information. .
In December 2020, the National Internet Information Office issued the "Scope of Personal Information Required for Common Types of Mobile Internet Applications (Apps) (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)", which delineated specific and operable boundaries for the collection of personal information in apps.
In addition to the implemented civil code, the personal information protection law that has been drafted, the data security law that is being drafted, etc., the laws and regulations on personal information protection are gradually being improved. What behaviors are illegal, what can be collected, and what does not need to be collected... …It can be said that the boundaries of personal information collection are also very clear.
Personal information protection is the bottom line of the digital economy.
Strengthening the protection of personal information is not only related to consumers’ privacy, right to know, right to choose, right to fair trading, and right to security protection, but also directly related to users’ sense of acquisition, security, and happiness, and even a relationship. For social interests and even public safety issues, it has become the consensus of the whole society to strictly control the excessive collection, leakage and abuse of user data of various platforms and apps.
In this situation, the installation of a weather app is required to access the address book, and the download of a fitness app is required to access the phone photo album...If you disagree, the installation and use are refused, and users are still being "extorted" by dominant apps.
It can be seen from the news bulletin that many apps ignore the regulatory requirements for rectification, have orders, ignore the general trend of strengthening personal information protection, still collect and use personal information in violation of regulations, and abuse platform power. This reflects that some apps are only profitable. The arrogance and the main responsibility of related platforms are not in place.
Personal information is a kind of resource. The collection of necessary personal information is the basis for relevant companies to carry out basic services. However, excessive, over-range or even compulsory use of personal information violates the principles of lawfulness, fairness and necessity, and infringes on personal rights. This brings risks to the disclosure of personal privacy.
In the final analysis, the main purpose of collecting and using personal information in violation of regulations is to use it for profit.
However, personal information should not be the "tang monk meat" that everyone wants to eat, and relevant companies cannot be allowed to use personal information to "realize" in violation of laws and regulations.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology once again named and notified the company's inadequate rectification and reform, showing the clear attitude of the regulatory authorities, which has become part of the normalization of governance.
App that ignores rectification requirements and ignores the general trend of personal information protection and platforms that do not implement the main responsibility must be dealt with seriously. Let this arrogance of grasping a dominant market position and various violations under arrogance pay due price and use rigidity Institutional constraints pull it to the track of protecting personal information.
With the increasing awareness of personal information protection and data security, consumers are increasingly reluctant to trade privacy for convenience.
As the anti-monopoly pace of the platform economy continues to accelerate, strengthening data security management is an important part of anti-monopoly.
This also reminds and requires relevant platforms and companies to follow the general trend, change their business models, use high-quality services to acquire users, earn profits, and achieve healthy development of the company, and take the right path in an open manner, instead of continuing to collect, obtain, and use personal information in violation of regulations. The crooked way of "realizing".
(Author: Yangsan Xi, Department of Media commentator)