Call to protect users from online theft

As much as we hail the benefits of a 3G/4G era of mobile-phone Internet in China, evidence of personal information becoming public is piling up, raising serious questions over privacy and security in the world's second-largest economy.

Statistics from the Internet Society of China show financial loss caused by leak of personal information last year reached about 150 billion yuan ($24.4 billion), as 65.5 percent of websites had security holes that made them vulnerable to hackers.

It's these huge losses and risk to privacy that turned "personal information protection" into one of the top buzzwords during this year's two sessions, with calls for laws and regulations as well as improvement in mobile Internet technology.

"Personal information leaks could happen anywhere anytime, without us knowing it," said Yang Yuanqing, chairman of world's top PC maker Lenovo Group Ltd. "It could happen when we are installing apps on our smartphones, sending massages, and so on."

Many people would choose "Yes" without even looking at the articles popping up during installation of smartphone apps. It increases the chances of information leaks, Yang said.

He said that more than 20 billion messages were sent on average every day in 2013 via social networking platforms, including Wechat and Weibo, in China.

Malwares for smartphones, which is also considered as a culprit for personal information leak, surged to over 700,000 in 2013, more than quadrupled from a year earlier, according to Yang, citing statistics from a national computer emergency response technical organization.

"Laws and regulations are required to protect our personal information on mobile devices, raise the bar of safety standard for smartphone apps, and streamline the information technology market," He said.

Smartphones, underpinned by clouding computing and big data technology, has increasingly become a top choice for the Chinese people to access Internet, overtaking tablets and personal computers.

China boasts about 500 million mobile Internet users by the end of 2013, taking up 80.9 percent of total online users, according to a report released on Feb 26 by the China Internet Network Information Center, or CNNIC.

Gartner Inc, the world's leading information technology research and advisory company, predicted another 400 million smartphones will be sold in the Chinese market this year, with smartphone penetration rate hitting 90 or 95 percent.

"The increasing economic value of personal information raises odds of information leaks," said Wu Xiaoling, vice chairman of the financial and economic committee of the National People's Congress, in an earlier report.

According to the CNNIC, over 74.1 percent of domestic Internet users suffered information leak in the second half of last year, causing huge financial losses.

Jiang Yaoping, a CPPCC member and former vice minister of commerce, said online shopping as well as online bookings for traveling or housekeeping services via mobile devices could also put our personal information at stake.

"Although it is considered safe in many cases, we should also be discerning and learn to screen those out where our bank accounts information could be easily stolen," he said, during an exclusive interview with China Daily.

The country's e-commerce industry has been booming in the past five years, connecting people, goods, money and services all the more closer.

Statistics from Chinese Internet consultancy iResearch Group show that third-party payment via mobile devices hit 1.22 trillion yuan last year, up 707 percent from a year earlier.

Online information protection has become a national strategic priority in China, as Premier Li Keqiang has underlined its importance in his work report on March 5.