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A recent Forbes report has implied that Xiaomi has been invading user privacy and collecting their data. Xiaomi has now refuted that claim with its own statement.
In the report, Gabi Cirlig, a cybersecurity investigator discovered that her smartphone has been tracking its use and that the collected data was sent to remote servers and rented by Xiaomi. Despite being in incognito mode, most of their websites and search engine queries were tracked.
The researcher also noted that Xiaomi’s claim that the data was encrypted during the transfer is not as secure as one might think. He could decode information using an easy encryption method: convert encrypted data to readable information in seconds.
In a statement released on May 2, Xiaomi said, “We feel that you have misunderstood what we communicate regarding our principles and data privacy.” The company went on to explain how the aggregated data is collected and that this data will still be collected even in incognito mode.
“Furthermore, this is a common solution adopted by Internet companies around the world to improve the overall user experience of various products, while protecting user privacy and data security.”
Still, the amount of “invasion” gives people a reason to worry. After all, Cirlig discovered that even Xiaomi’s music player app is also collecting information about its listening habits, in addition to collecting data from the phone that could specifically identify the phone and, ultimately, its owner.
In an attempt to soften the blow, Xiaomi finally added software updates for Mi Browser, Mi Browser Pro, and Mint Browser. These updates will allow all your users to disable the collection of aggregated data if they wish.
