Users losing privacy on smartphone apps: report

DCCI Data Center of China Internet, a leading Internet research and data information provider, has revealed in a new report that 66.9 percent of smartphone apps are capturing users' private data and 34.5 percent are crossing the bounds by invading people's privacy.

However, most users are unaware of it, said DCCI’s Security Report of Mobile Privacy for 2013.

The report said that among the top 1,400 Android apps being downloaded in China, 53.1 percent had permission to track the location of the user, which was listed as the top violation of people’s privacy.

The other aims of the apps are to monitor contacts, call records, text messages and user behavior.

It also said call records, text messages and contacts were named as the most dangerous areas of privacy violation.

Apps such as those for learning and social networking often track a person’s location; apps such as those for business, lifestyle and cameras also read people’s contacts.

According to DCCI, increasing numbers of people are using their mobiles to surf the Internet.

There are about 400 million smartphone users in China, more than 84 percent of which using Android operating systems.

The same problem exists for Apple's iOS apps. Users must know more about their smartphone apps and how to protect their privacy, said the report.