Apple Reportedly Sending User Browsing Data To Chinese Company Tencent

You might be already knowing about Apple’s troubled operation in China and the plan to move some production outside China.

Amidst all that, after the iOS 13 release, it looks like Apple is in trouble yet again.

And, this time, it may not be just limited to China.

In the new iOS 13 update, the Safari browser privacy policy mentions that the browsing data will be shared with Google Safe Browsing and Tencent.

Note: This is report-based news, take it with a pinch of salt.

It is unclear whether this addition in the privacy policy of Safari was present earlier or was simply spotted on iOS 13 as a threat.

Technically, Google Safe Browsing does not collect your personal details (the webpage you visit, etc.) but it anonymously checks the web pages to see if they are malicious sites.

On the other hand, we do not really know how the Chinese company ‘Tencent’ handles the data. So, the assumption of this report remains that it gets your browsing history information and IP addresses to be able to build a profile on you for targeted advertising or possible online scams.

Matthew Green, a cryptographer and a professor at Johns Hopkins University revealed the possibility in his blog stating that Apple should inform the users of this change with more details.

He also added – the users should not require to read the fine print (policy), they should be notified about important changes like this.

What do you think about this controversy? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Ankush Das
Categories: Apple
Tags: apple, iOS, Privacy, tencent