Recently, we’d received the rather disconcerting revelation that China has developed a government-backed system called CAID which is able to bypass Apple’s App Tracking Transparency expected with iOS 14.5. Using iPhones’ unique fingerprint ID’s to track devices, CAID can collect user data even if the user declined to be tracked upon receiving Apple’s obligatory prompt. For a while, Apple’s silence on the subject made it seem like it was willing to let the Chinese tech giants get away with it in order to avoid souring business relations. Thankfully, Apple appeared to crack down when it recently stated that its privacy extends to all and that non-compliant apps could expect to be removed.
With increasingly advanced technology, the collection of personal information has been extended to biological information such as an individual’s face or even genes, which could result in serious consequences if such information is misused.
Hereon out, navigation apps will only be able to access users’ location, messaging apps—identity and contacts, etc. The Chinese Communist Party has not yet made it clear how this rule will exactly be enforced, although a range of data which 39 common app types are allowed to collect have already been listed out.
