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China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

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Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#91

Post by Inconel »

baybal2 wrote: post #78

This is what comes out of Google allowing apps to read phone IMEI in Android. I have no concrete proof, but the reason why all major Chinese apps snoop after phone IMEI is said to be that the commies have secretly demanded Chinese dotcoms to collect and report phone IMEIs. For example if you have a 6.0 or later Android, Alibaba app will block you if you disabled the permission to read IMEI or it detects spoofing. htt…

I'm on 7.1.1 and I don't feel like installing the Alibaba app to try this out but when you say it requires the permission to read IMEI is this under the phone permission setting that says "read phone status and identity" or something else?

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#92

Post by arjie »

plaguuuuuu wrote: post #28
jilljennV wrote: post #26

I was really surprised to see my Chinese friend pay the restaurant bill using WeChat, just by flashing a QR code. Which means they know all the data a typical social network can handle, but also how much you are paying where.

I keep voicing concerns about Google Wallet in that respect but nobody takes it seriously.

That's because everyone knows that nobody really uses Google Wallet.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#93

Post by vadym909 »

yueq wrote: post #11

Many people might not know, in US, credit card transactions/payments are on sale by various sources. There's a very active market for this and some fintech startups are solely based on this kind of data. Since most of our financial life is based on credit card, we are under surveillance at a micro level in a similar situation. The issue is we not only use 'services', we handle data to the service providers. Data unde…

are the transactions sold with the personal information? xyz bought these things this month. Seems hard to believe, although I'm sure they may do this after anonymizing the user's personal information.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#94

Post by contingencies »

What a silly article: "download the controls to the private sector" indeed. The government already owns the telcos, half the banks, the only domestic interbank transfer system and the only domestic travel reservation system so they have your IMEI, real time location and history, network traffic, bank balance and payment and employment history and travel plans anyway. And that of your friends/relatives. They certainly don't need help from an app. That said, after 16 years in and out of China, I still feel safer here than the US.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#95

Post by ared38 »

pcr0 wrote: post #87
schuke wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thing in China is that so many trivial daily activities require government-issued ID. Buying a coach/train ticket. Buying a SIM card. Every website/mobile app registration require a mobile phone number, which means any account is easily traceable to your government-issued ID, too. Hell, even visiting your friend in a hotel requires recording your ID before hotel staff will let you go upstairs (strictly enforced i…

Yeah, as a tourist I was surprised that all hotels ranging from 5 star to small local inns were insistent on having everybody's passport when checking in.

The hotels I stayed at in Spain, France, and Italy made copies of mine.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#96

Post by peteretep »

baybal2 wrote: post #78

This is what comes out of Google allowing apps to read phone IMEI in Android. I have no concrete proof, but the reason why all major Chinese apps snoop after phone IMEI is said to be that the commies have secretly demanded Chinese dotcoms to collect and report phone IMEIs. For example if you have a 6.0 or later Android, Alibaba app will block you if you disabled the permission to read IMEI or it detects spoofing. htt…

    > Google allowing apps to read
    > phone IMEI in Android
An unpopular sentiment, but this is why I love iOS. I genuinely don't think any of my apps can meaningfully spy on me without my having told them they may. I even get reminders if I've let an app read my location in the background, to check that's what I want to do.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#97

Post by messick »

contingencies wrote: post #94

What a silly article: "download the controls to the private sector" indeed. The government already owns the telcos, half the banks, the only domestic interbank transfer system and the only domestic travel reservation system so they have your IMEI, real time location and history, network traffic, bank balance and payment and employment history and travel plans anyway. And that of your friends/relatives. They certainly…

Safer? I guess that Great Firewall does work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1...

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#98

Post by contingencies »

messick wrote: post #97
contingencies wrote: post #94

What a silly article: "download the controls to the private sector" indeed. The government already owns the telcos, half the banks, the only domestic interbank transfer system and the only domestic travel reservation system so they have your IMEI, real time location and history, network traffic, bank balance and payment and employment history and travel plans anyway. And that of your friends/relatives. They certainly…

Safer? I guess that Great Firewall does work: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1...

Oh come on. 16 years is modern China not Maoist China.

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#99

Post by pelario »

contingencies wrote: post #94

What a silly article: "download the controls to the private sector" indeed. The government already owns the telcos, half the banks, the only domestic interbank transfer system and the only domestic travel reservation system so they have your IMEI, real time location and history, network traffic, bank balance and payment and employment history and travel plans anyway. And that of your friends/relatives. They certainly…

>That said, after 16 years in and out of China, I still feel safer here than the US.

Can you elaborate on why is it?

Re: China has wealth of data on what individuals are doing at a micro level

#100

Post by peteretep »

lsmarigo wrote: post #22
throwaway91111 wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do any credit card services not do this? It's really unnerving to see recent purchases when browsing online.

Don't know of anyway to avoid this other than using cash. The speed the sharing takes place is pretty insane as well, I've made purchases of a new brand of X item at my local grocery chain only to have amazon suggest the exact item to me on the same day.

Blur by Abine, albeit for online purchases only.
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