Online trade of users’ privacy for convenience too one-sided

AT THE CHINA DEVELOPMENT FORUM on Monday, Li Yanhong, CEO of domestic internet services giant Baidu Inc, said that many Chinese users are willing to trade privacy for convenience. Beijing News comments:

Li’s remarks aroused heated debate on social networks, as there is too much convenience and too little privacy. For example, if you open the page of Baidu and enter something in the search box, there will be a lot of “you might be interested in these” advertisements, with their content based on your search history. That means the search company has kept your data and is making use of that data for commercial purposes.

That applies to other giants such as smartphone producers and telecom companies. When you buy a new smartphone, there are always pre-installed apps, and many of them collect your data for their own use. Your privacy is nothing compared with their commercial interests.

In order to avoid legal risks, most of the smartphone producers and search engines provide an electronic “agreement” and the user must click on the “I agree” box in order to continue using their services. But these “agreements” are too long, too vague and the texts too ambiguous that many users have no time to read before clicking “I agree”. Such electronic “agreements” should not be considered legally binding.

The users are in an inferior position compared with the companies, but the law should not allow an unlimited trade of privacy for convenience. A simple click on “I agree” should not be considered an excuse for the service providers to collect, use, and store users’ data, which must be better protected by the law.