The Chinese government αναγκάζει μερικές από τις εθνικές μειονότητες να εγκαταστήσουν μια εφαρμογή spyware στα smartphone τους για την παρακολούθηση των δραστηριοτήτων τους, ενώ οι Αρχές επιβολής του νόμου προειδοποιούν ότι όσοι δεν συμμορφώνονται θα κρατούνται για ένα διάστημα που θα φτάνει και τις 10 μέρες.
The initiative began in Xinjiang, western China, when authorities began sending messages via WeChat to residents of Urumqi, requiring smartphone users to install an app Android called Jingwang. THE role of implementation is monitoring users for possible "terrorist acts, illegal religious videos, e-books and e-documents."
Most of the inhabitants of this area belong to the Muslim minority, according to local media, and the message is broadcast on both Mandarin and Uyghur. The latter is the language spoken by the Uighur group, whose population lists 8 millions of people.
The message includes a QR code to help users download the spyware application, along with a warning that those who do not install it will be held for up to 10 days.
Authorities have warned that spot checks will be carried out in the coming weeks to make sure everyone has the app installed and that it is not stored content which violates the law. If the app is running and any content that violates the law is detected, users should delete it.
The application can spy on almost all of the activities on the phone, recorded data, such as WeChat and Weibo talks, two of the most popular communication platforms in China.
Information, such as data Wi-Fi, IMEI data and SIM card data, are automatically collected and transferred to a government server, along with information about media files stored on device which are checked by digital content signatures to determine if they violate the law, or if they are linked to any terrorist activity.
Mobile espionage efforts seem to be targeting devices only Android at the moment, but iOS works on less than 10% of devices in China. Maybe later we will hear this news…
