Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp’s (小米) Mi 10T 5G smartphones have built-in censorship capabilities and can transmit user data to servers at its Beijing headquarters, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said on Thursday evening.
The Telecommunications Technology Center, a think tank run by the commission, conducted a test in October last year on the model sold in Taiwan after the Lithuanian National Cyber Security Center on Sept. 21 last year informed the NCC of the device’s censorship capabilities.
The Lithuanian Ministry of National Defense last year advised Lithuanians to avoid Chinese cellphones and dispose of any they own after discovering the software.
Photo: Reuters
“Our test showed that a program [MiAdBlacklisConfigur] can be downloaded from the servers of globalapi.ad.xiaomi.com through seven built-in applications on the Mi 10T 5G smartphone, which targets a long list of politically sensitive terms and can block the smartphones from linking to related Web sites. These apps can also transmit users’ Web history to servers in Beijing,” the NCC said in a statement.
The software can detect and block terms such as “Free Tibet,” “Taiwan independence” and “independent media in Hong Kong,” or terms related to the Tiananmen Square Massacre, former Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party, the commission’s test showed.
The NCC said it expressed its concern over the software to Xiaomi Taiwan on the same day it was informed by Lithuania.
NCC said the company told it in an e-mail that the 10T smartphones sold in Taiwan are different from those in Europe, and assured the agency that the devices Taiwanese consumers purchase do not monitor or censor users’ communications, or restrict their Internet searches.
“Judging from the test results, we will continue our investigations to determine if Xiaomi Taiwan has compromised the interests of Taiwanese users by invading their privacy. We will inform relevant agencies if the company contravenes regulations enforced by other administrative authorities,” the commission said.
The NCC unveiled its test results so that the public can know the personal privacy risks of using Xiaomi smartphones, it said.
Article 14 of China’s National Intelligence Law stipulates that Chinese citizens and enterprises are obligated to support, assist and cooperate with national intelligence work, the NCC said.
Unlike smartphones made by other manufacturers, the 10T devices do not allow users to turn off tracking functions, the commission said.
Although targeted terms have been removed from the company’s servers, the manufacturer could remotely reinstall the software, it said.
Xiaomi said that it “has never, and will never” limit, block or collect data when users conduct searches, make calls, browse the Internet or use third-party communication platforms and software.
The company said that the MiAdBlacklistConfig file manages paid advertisements for Xiaomi apps, adding that it also protects users from inappropriate content, such as hate speech, or depictions of violence, sex and information that might prove offensive to local users.
Such software is widely used by smartphone companies and social media platforms, it said, citing Facebook’s and Google’s advertisement policies.
Xiaomi is dedicated to the protection of its users’ privacy and data security, it said, adding that it uses the highest standards to regulate its operations and fully complies with local and regional laws and regulations.
Additional reporting by Yang Mien-chieh
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
CROSS-STRAIT: The MAC said it barred the Chinese officials from attending an event, because they failed to provide guarantees that Taiwan would be treated with respect The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Friday night defended its decision to bar Chinese officials and tourism representatives from attending a tourism event in Taipei next month, citing the unsafe conditions for Taiwanese in China. The Taipei International Summer Travel Expo, organized by the Taiwan Tourism Exchange Association, is to run from July 18 to 21. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) on Friday said that representatives from China’s travel industry were excluded from the expo. The Democratic Progressive Party government is obstructing cross-strait tourism exchange in a vain attempt to ignore the mainstream support for peaceful development
RSS