This article is worth a read if you thinking about purchasing a Xiaomi phone:
PSA If You're Thinking about a Xiaomi Phone (Recording Personal Information)
Comments
Maybe going much further.
Other than the browser data, Cirlig also noticed monitoring in Xiaomi apps and his touches on every screen.
Data harvesting is nothing new for any of the big phone suppliers.
Even the AU govt is at it now…..
Yeah, every single major tech company is doing this…
You’re delirious if you think they’re not.
You equate Xiaomi's data harvesting with Apple's?
@ThithLord: In the space of 16 minutes you just went from denying Apple does any harvesting of data to now saying it's not on the same level as Xiaomi'?
Apple harvest data.
They don't run an ad business that results in 90% of their profits being realised using the data they collect.
Which is what Google is.
Harvesting data to sell? Nuh uh. That's Google's business model.
You're not interesting enough to have an impact on the system by having your website history monitored. Ozbargain, reddit, google news. repeat.
Sounds like you've been on the dark web and bought my user data.
20cents, using google rewards credit. ozbargain forums ayyeeee
20c =/= Ozbargain, it was only 15c last time it was listed. ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I wonder if this is only for the MIUI devices or if their Android One and Pocophone devices are also affected.
From reading the article, it's a browser issue.
The point was made that the same behaviour is apparent from downloads of the same browser from the Play store.
So yes, any device running that browser would be the same…….and conversely, any device NOT running that browser would be safe from the behaviour reported in that article.
I think it is sending more than just what is recorded via the browser app though, quoting from the article -
"The device was also recording what folders he opened and to which screens he swiped, including the status bar and the settings page. All of the data was being packaged up and sent to remote servers in Singapore and Russia, though the Web domains they hosted were registered in Beijing."
"Cirlig also suspected that his app use was being monitored by Xiaomi, as every time he opened an app, a chunk of information would be sent to a remote server. Another researcher who’d tested Xiaomi devices, though was under an NDA to discuss the matter openly, said he’d seen the manufacturer’s phone collect such data. Xiaomi didn’t respond to questions on that issue."
"Late in his research, Cirlig also discovered that Xiaomi’s music player app on his phone was collecting information on his listening habits: what songs were played and when."
I did see that.
However it doesnt appear to be too different from say what Google apps do.
And to be clear, I'm not defending the behaviour.
But as a xiaomi user, one of the important features I look for in a device is third party ROM support…… specifically Lineage, because I have little trust of Xiaomi software myself.
But, but, it says the data is anonymized!
Anonymized data alongside with individual meta-data
Yep. The great cookie network would fill in the blanks.
So just like the Australian Government COVID app - telling the idiots that it's anonymous while leaving data that de-anonymises the user to holders of third party information.
For example Google knows what your BT id is when you leave the house and the ID doesn't change for two hours. To maintain privacy this should be changed every 15 minutes and setting it at two hours allows this third party tracking to occur while telling the idiots that their data is anonymous.
What "BT id" are you talking about? A Bluetooth MAC is never meant to change (although it's stored in an eeprom so can be changed with root access) and your phone doesn't advertise it constantly; only when you scan for other devices.
If you use Google Android without modifying Google recieves everything you type into the keyboard.
Source please?
Current versions of Gboard say, "What you type or speak stays on your device, and a technology called federated learning helps Gboard learn new words and phrases without sending your data to Google".
In older versions that don't have federated learning, there's an option to send some anonymised snippets to Google which is on by default.
That's China for ya. Out of all the other countries, China is the most prominent on spying. Just take a look at Hikavision, Dahua, Huawei, ZTE, Xiaomi and Lenovo. Never trust anything made by a communist country.
It is not about communism. it is about an authoritarian government with a passive (for lack of a better word) population.
passive (for lack of a better word) population
Seriously? You don't think they haven't paid the price for standing up to their authoritarian government?
Well, I needed 1 word and I did say for the lack of a better word.
They do stand up. However the CCP knows hows to bring them into line. Its mainly $$$. money bludgeons everyone into submission.
The next trick they pull is, nationalism. no matter how dissatisfied the people are, nothing unifies the country better than a foreign (expecially western) country dissing china.
xiaomi is actually one of the better china companies for security
That is how OZB gets new people. The spymasters sees all the time I am spending so they decided to check it out and they get hooked too.
your best bet is to put a custom rom on if possible
I have heard LineageOS is a good alternative
prob. same with sammsung or google