From time to time, Chinese companies have been accused of stealing or spying on smartphone user data. Some prominent Chinese smartphone companies are again being accused of spying on users.
Chinese smartphone brands dominate India. However, in the recent past, Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi’s sales have decreased. But Chinese smartphones are sold the most in India. The allegation seems to be that people are being spied on through the smartphones of big mobile companies like Oppo, OnePlus and Xiaomi.
According to the report, much such bloatware has been found in the smartphones of Oppo, OnePlus and Xiaomi sold in China, which spy on people. Generally, Chinese smartphones have a lot of preloaded apps. In such a situation, it is difficult for the users to know which is accessing their data.
Researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Trinity College of Dublin have found that large Chinese companies such as Oppo, OnePlus and Xiaomi track users’ data in large amounts. Surprisingly, this research has also said that these companies hand over the users’ sensitive data to the Chinese government.
However, it has been said in this report that it is given to the government by tracking the users’ data from the phones sold in China. There is no information about how much user data is followed by smartphones sold in India and where it goes.
According to the report, these Chinese companies also collect GPS location coordinates, including the IMEI numbers and MAC addresses of Chinese users’ devices and give them to different agencies. This report has also mentioned that they will be handed over to the government agencies after tracking the phone number, SMS history and call details.
The scary thing is that all the user data is obtained without the consent of the users. According to the report, even if the users get information about this, they cannot remove these apps from themselves.
It is worth noting that Android smartphones sold in China are given more bloatware than in other countries. It is said that more user permissions are taken in China than in the international Android version.
Crores of smartphones by these companies are sold in India. Even before this, Chinese smartphone majors have been accused of sending user data from India to China. But in this report, Chinese smartphones sold in India have not been discussed.
