Protecting the legitimate rights and interests of online users is the foundation for building a powerful country on the Internet. How should mobile applications (APP) illegally collect user personal information and violate user rights and interests be governed?
On December 24, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, in response to this issue raised by the news, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Director of the Information and Communication Development Department Wenku stated that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has organized a special rectification action for APP infringement of users’ rights and interests for two consecutive years, and issued the “Notice on Carrying out a Special Rectification Action for App Infringements of Users’ Rights and Interests” and other normative requirements. The four aspects and ten types of problems were rectified.
Wenku stated that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology organized the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, the Telecommunications Terminal Industry Association, and more than 30 terminal manufacturers and Internet companies to formulate the “App User Rights Protection 10 standards in the Evaluation Specification. Regarding the principle of collecting and using personal information of users, such as the “minimal necessity” that users are particularly concerned about, the 8 series of standards have been formulated in the “Apps Collection and Use of Users’ Personal Information Minimum Necessary Evaluation Specification”. The specification requires a very clear operating specification on how to protect the rights and interests of users.
Wenku said that technical testing methods are very good and very important technical guarantees. It is necessary to give full play to the advantages of technical means and use new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data. The new method mobilizes the industry’s superior forces to form a national APP technology testing platform. Up to now, the testing capability of the national APP technical testing platform has reached an average of 80,000 models per month for testing. 520,000 APPs have been tested and a batch of problematic apps have been discovered. 1571 illegal apps have been ordered to rectify , 500 apps were publicly notified, and 120 apps that were not rectified and refused to be rectified were directly removed.
Wenku also stated that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will study and formulate interim regulations on APP personal information protection, continue to promote the formulation of industry standards, improve APP detection technology platform system functions, and continue to carry out APP infringements on users Special rectification of rights and interests, and resolutely do a good job in ensuring national data security and strengthening personal information protection.