APP arbitrarily collects user privacy. Nearly 90% of mobile phones require location information.

　　Now, who hasn’t received several harassing calls for sales promotion? Who doesn’t have several apps installed in their mobile phones? Is there a connection between the two? Maybe there is.

　　From July 17 to August 13, 2018, China Consumers Association organized a questionnaire survey on "Personal Information Disclosure of APP". According to Pi Xiaolin, director of the commodity service supervision department of China Consumers Association, 85.2% of the 5,458 valid questionnaires collected said that they had experienced personal information disclosure of APP, and only 14.8% had not experienced personal information disclosure. Nearly 90% of the respondents who suffered information leakage said that they had been harassed by sales calls or text messages.

　　Nearly 90% of mobile apps require location information.

　　According to the Regulations on the Management of Mobile Internet Application Information Services promulgated in 2016, APP operators should follow the principles of legality, justness and necessity in collecting and using users’ personal information, clearly state the purpose, method and scope of collecting and using information, and obtain the consent of users. However, in actual operation, APP operators basically require user information to be "undefended" according to their own wishes.

　　The survey results show that the right to read location information and the right to access contacts are the most common situations when installing and using mobile apps, accounting for 86.8% and 62.3% respectively. A relatively high proportion of respondents were asked to read the call records (47.5%), read the short message records (39.3%), turn on the camera (39.3%) and record the microphone (24.6%).

　　The reporter looked at the APP downloaded from his mobile phone and found that he had the most permission to use the location service. Among them, Beijing Mobile, Rookie Wrap, Public Comment, Didi Chuxing and other apps require location permission, which is a service necessity. However, video apps such as iQiyi and LeTV, dragonfly FM audio software, photo apps without other cameras and butter cameras, kitchen menu software, Baidu input method, WPS text editing software, etc., seem to have little to do with the user’s location, but they also require location permission, which does not conform to the necessary principle.

　　The "whatever you want" of APP has aroused the vigilance of many consumers. According to the report, it is more serious for mobile apps to obtain users’ privacy rights when their own functions are unnecessary, and 67.2% of the respondents said that they had encountered this situation.

　　Personal information is mostly collected for promotional advertisements.

　　Although most operators claim that they ask for more rights in order to better provide services to users, this is not consistent with users’ feelings.

　　According to the survey results, 77% of the respondents believe that promoting advertisements is the main reason why mobile apps collect personal information. Especially after obtaining the location information, the advertisement can be pushed more accurately. 45.9% of the respondents believe that operators are selling and exchanging personal information, and 24.6% of the respondents believe that they are engaged in fraud and theft.

　　The user’s feelings come from personal experiences in life. Ms. Zhang, a loyal user of today’s headlines, told reporters that when she used today’s headlines, she found that the headlines changed local channels at any time on the page according to the different cities where she lived, and also pushed local news and local advertisements to her.

　　"I went to Shanghai on business. Today, the headline APP followed me with an advertisement for china international furniture expo in Pudong. Why does it think I have to buy furniture in Shanghai? My home is not in Shanghai! " Ms. Zhang said in distress situation.

　　However, APP operators don’t care so much. As long as they can accurately push advertisements, the information collected is valuable, especially in advertising promotion.

　　In recent years, fraud cases caused by information leakage are common. According to this survey, after users’ personal information was leaked, about 86.5% of the respondents were harassed by sales calls or text messages, about 75% of the respondents received fraudulent calls, and about 63.4% of the respondents received spam, ranking the top three. In addition, some interviewees have received illegal information such as illegal links, and even more, personal account passwords have been stolen.

　　More than 20% of users never read application permissions and user agreements.

　　How to use and protect personal information, there is actually an agreement between users and mobile APP operators, that is, user agreements and privacy policies need to be signed when registering. However, many users only operate the "next step" all the way when registering, and seldom pay attention to the small words as big as ants.

　　The survey results show that when users install and use mobile apps, few people read the application rights and user agreements or privacy policies, 31.2% of users occasionally read, 26.2% never read, 18.1% always read, and only 8.2% often read. Moreover, among the respondents who have read the application rights and user agreements or privacy policies, only 26.7% of the respondents can read them carefully, less than 30%. In other words, everyone basically has a green light all the way and opens their arms to the APP.

　　Why is this happening? Do users care about their privacy? The survey shows that it is more likely to be a kind of helplessness — — Among the respondents who accounted for 26.2% never read the application rights and user agreements or privacy policies, 61.2% admitted that the main reason why they never read them was that they could not use them without authorization and had to accept them.

　　Recently, the reporter downloaded China Telecom’s online business hall APP on his mobile phone, and found that if he did not agree with the "Telecom User Registration Agreement", he could not use it at all. The National APP WeChat also has this problem. If you don’t agree with the user agreement, you can’t register and use it. However, Taobao, Dianping, Baidu and other apps don’t agree with the user agreement. Although they can’t complete registration and login, and can’t enjoy more sophisticated services, the basic functions can still be used.

　　Even users who have carefully read the agreement are vulnerable to APP operators. The survey shows that after the disclosure of personal information, some respondents will take various measures to protect their rights and interests, such as complaining to consumer associations and relevant administrative departments, and some respondents will choose to negotiate with service providers and give feedback to relevant industry organizations, but in the end, about one-third of the respondents choose to "admit that they are unlucky".

　　Those users who are unable to protect themselves have to take some conservative measures to console themselves. For example, 67.2% of the respondents said that when using the APP, they mainly protected their personal information by filling in part of their personal information, 18% of users used some false information when registering, 24.6% of users installed relevant protection software, and 32.7% of users chose to close the services that could be closed after registration.

　　"On the one hand, users and mobile APP service providers are often in an unequal position, and they can only agree or be forced to agree to format terms and information access rights; On the other hand, although consumers have a sense of self-protection, they do not know how to protect themselves more effectively, and it is often difficult to respond effectively. " Pi Xiaolin said that there is a general trend of over-collection of personal information by mobile apps, and users have many concerns, but they often lack adequate and effective countermeasures, and the protection of users’ personal information and privacy needs to be strengthened. (Reporter Yan Ying)