Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
Xiaomi smart cams see other people’s homes ; Google disconnects from Xiaomi products
Update (2020.1.3 16:20) : Xiaomi official statement says the problem was caused by a video system update released at the end of December. Xiaomi said they had already addressed the issue, and stopped the related service temporarily until the root cause of the problem could be resolved.
Home monitors can let users see the situations at home while away, and can keep a record when there are burglars or other problems at home. However, Xiaomi’s Mi Home apps made a big blunder recently. From their home smart monitors connected to Google Home system, users could see video images of other people’s homes. Google terminated the connections with Mi Home apps immediately after they received the reports.
Member “u/Dio-V” on Reddit uploaded the video, and said that, after he connected the camera with Google Home system, saw not only what was happening at home, but also random images of unknown people’s homes, including their living rooms, baby cribs, etc. Google community officer responded to the post immediately, and contacted him at once for follow-up.
Google said they had temporarily terminated the connections with Mi Home apps for now, and were seeking a resolution with Mi Home. Mi Home video users can no longer see any video images on Google Home, but only the “currently unavailable” wording.
A Reddit user joked that the affected person “unintentionally opened the secret mode of the Chinese government.” Quite a few users who also installed the monitors are worried. But some also point out it might be a programming error that grabbed images from the caches. However, it all needs to wait for Google or Xiaomi to come up with an explanation eventually, before users’ worries on smart home monitors can be released.
Xiaomi official response: System update caused problems with the caches
Xiami made an official response to this incident, saying that Xiaomi had always put the privacy and information security of the users first. They found out there was an extremely small chance of streaming image problem when “Mi Home Wireless IP Camera Basic” products were connected on Google Home. As for the inconvenience caused to the users, Xiaomi has expressed deep regrets. Xiaomi said they took actions to address the problem after finding out about it, and had solved it. They found in the investigations that, starting from testing on 26 December, 2019, they caused problems with the caches. Xiaomi said this problem happened only when “Mi Home Wireless IP Camera Basic“ and Google Home are used together and when network connections are not good. After investigations Xiaomi found out 1,044 users had similar problems. After they communicated with Google, they had stopped such service temporarily until the root cause could be resolved, and ensured that the incident would not happen again.
Below are the original script of the official announcement:
[Statement: Xiaomi has always prioritized our users’ privacy and information security. We are aware there was an issue of receiving stills while connecting Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p on Google Home hub. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused to our users.
Our team has since acted immediately to solve the issue and it is now fixed. Upon investigation, we have found out the issue was caused by a cache update on December 26, 2019, which was designed to improve camera streaming quality. This has only happened in extremely rare conditions. In this case, it happened during the integration between Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p and the Google Home Hub with a display screen under poor network conditions.
We have also found 1044 users were with such integrations and only a few with extremely poor network conditions might be affected. This issue will not happen if the camera is linked to the Xiaomi’s Mi Home app.]
#Surveillance #Privacy #China #Xiaomi
https://unwire.hk/2020/01/03/xiaomicamera/tech-secure/
Update (2020.1.3 16:20) : Xiaomi official statement says the problem was caused by a video system update released at the end of December. Xiaomi said they had already addressed the issue, and stopped the related service temporarily until the root cause of the problem could be resolved.
Home monitors can let users see the situations at home while away, and can keep a record when there are burglars or other problems at home. However, Xiaomi’s Mi Home apps made a big blunder recently. From their home smart monitors connected to Google Home system, users could see video images of other people’s homes. Google terminated the connections with Mi Home apps immediately after they received the reports.
Member “u/Dio-V” on Reddit uploaded the video, and said that, after he connected the camera with Google Home system, saw not only what was happening at home, but also random images of unknown people’s homes, including their living rooms, baby cribs, etc. Google community officer responded to the post immediately, and contacted him at once for follow-up.
Google said they had temporarily terminated the connections with Mi Home apps for now, and were seeking a resolution with Mi Home. Mi Home video users can no longer see any video images on Google Home, but only the “currently unavailable” wording.
A Reddit user joked that the affected person “unintentionally opened the secret mode of the Chinese government.” Quite a few users who also installed the monitors are worried. But some also point out it might be a programming error that grabbed images from the caches. However, it all needs to wait for Google or Xiaomi to come up with an explanation eventually, before users’ worries on smart home monitors can be released.
Xiaomi official response: System update caused problems with the caches
Xiami made an official response to this incident, saying that Xiaomi had always put the privacy and information security of the users first. They found out there was an extremely small chance of streaming image problem when “Mi Home Wireless IP Camera Basic” products were connected on Google Home. As for the inconvenience caused to the users, Xiaomi has expressed deep regrets. Xiaomi said they took actions to address the problem after finding out about it, and had solved it. They found in the investigations that, starting from testing on 26 December, 2019, they caused problems with the caches. Xiaomi said this problem happened only when “Mi Home Wireless IP Camera Basic“ and Google Home are used together and when network connections are not good. After investigations Xiaomi found out 1,044 users had similar problems. After they communicated with Google, they had stopped such service temporarily until the root cause could be resolved, and ensured that the incident would not happen again.
Below are the original script of the official announcement:
[Statement: Xiaomi has always prioritized our users’ privacy and information security. We are aware there was an issue of receiving stills while connecting Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p on Google Home hub. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused to our users.
Our team has since acted immediately to solve the issue and it is now fixed. Upon investigation, we have found out the issue was caused by a cache update on December 26, 2019, which was designed to improve camera streaming quality. This has only happened in extremely rare conditions. In this case, it happened during the integration between Mi Home Security Camera Basic 1080p and the Google Home Hub with a display screen under poor network conditions.
We have also found 1044 users were with such integrations and only a few with extremely poor network conditions might be affected. This issue will not happen if the camera is linked to the Xiaomi’s Mi Home app.]
#Surveillance #Privacy #China #Xiaomi
https://unwire.hk/2020/01/03/xiaomicamera/tech-secure/
Unwire.hk
小米智能攝影機看到其他人家畫面 Google急停與米家產品連接
更新（2020.1.3 16:20）：小米發表官方聲明，表示問題由 2019 年 12 月尾推出的攝影機系統更 […]
Forwarded from 📡Guardians of Hong Kong
Cyberspace Administration of China: Already Held 30 Large IT Companies' Algorithm Technologies
Cyber Administration of China (#CAC) indicated on #Aug12 that 30 top IT companies have submitted part of their algorithm details, such as how to collect personal data and how to set up individual recommendation content.
Companies includes #Tencent, #TikTok under #ByteDance, #MeiTuen, #iFeng, #Weibo, #Youku, #Kuaishou, #Baidu, #Sina, #Xiaomi, #WeChat, and #Tmall and #Taobao under #Alibaba.
#Bloomberg report stated that China can have full grasp of every move done by the citizens on the internet, and even all purchase detail and personal information can be seen clearly via the relevant enterprises and applications.
The CAC passed the regulations on algorithm recommendation in March this year, requiring all enterprises to reveal the algorithm used in every application.
Nominally, they can solve the issue of data misuse and enhance cyber security. But once when the authority obtained algorithm technology, they can take further control over web activity and carry out political propaganda.
They even can take "National Security" as an excuse, to obtain citizens' and companies' information.
Source: PC Market #Aug17
https://www.pcmarket.com.hk/china-netcom-algorithm-technology-of-30-technology-giants-has-been-mastered/?fbclid=IwAR3nrfecOdr8bYlAdIkaE3S783sF8pEprBrq_7Jg46s3lLXzzi1Pv8aSX0k
#CyberAdministrationofChina #surveillance #NationalSecurity #Webtracking #AlgorithmTechnology
Cyber Administration of China (#CAC) indicated on #Aug12 that 30 top IT companies have submitted part of their algorithm details, such as how to collect personal data and how to set up individual recommendation content.
Companies includes #Tencent, #TikTok under #ByteDance, #MeiTuen, #iFeng, #Weibo, #Youku, #Kuaishou, #Baidu, #Sina, #Xiaomi, #WeChat, and #Tmall and #Taobao under #Alibaba.
#Bloomberg report stated that China can have full grasp of every move done by the citizens on the internet, and even all purchase detail and personal information can be seen clearly via the relevant enterprises and applications.
The CAC passed the regulations on algorithm recommendation in March this year, requiring all enterprises to reveal the algorithm used in every application.
Nominally, they can solve the issue of data misuse and enhance cyber security. But once when the authority obtained algorithm technology, they can take further control over web activity and carry out political propaganda.
They even can take "National Security" as an excuse, to obtain citizens' and companies' information.
Source: PC Market #Aug17
https://www.pcmarket.com.hk/china-netcom-algorithm-technology-of-30-technology-giants-has-been-mastered/?fbclid=IwAR3nrfecOdr8bYlAdIkaE3S783sF8pEprBrq_7Jg46s3lLXzzi1Pv8aSX0k
#CyberAdministrationofChina #surveillance #NationalSecurity #Webtracking #AlgorithmTechnology
PCM
騰訊、淘寶、抖音、小米無一倖免 中國網信辦 : 已掌握 30 間科技巨企的演算法技術
根據中國網信辦 (國家互聯網信息辦公室) 12 日表示，包括騰訊、阿里巴巴、字節跳動、美團等 30 間科技巨頭已提交部分應用程式的演算法詳細資訊，包括如何收集個人數據及制定個人推薦內容的技術...