(Yicai Global) Aug. 18 -- A new report from the renowned Peking University evaluating data protection at internet firms found including Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s [HKG:0700], JD.Com Inc. [NASDAQ:JD], Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s [NYSE:BABA] and DiDi Chuxing perform well, but there is ample room for improvement for couriers, food delivery services and car rental firms.

Sampling Evaluation for Internet Enterprises' Personal Information Protection 2017 sampled 79 online products from 17 categories between Feb. 27 and Aug. 13. Evaluation criteria included data protection policies, information processing periods, mechanisms for user complaints and security maintenance.

The results found that apps related to email, real-time communication, map navigation, and cloud storage performed excellently with scores of around 60 out of 100. However, scores for apps focused on car rental, take-away services and parcel deliveries were less satisfactory with scores under 40.

Mobile apps that achieved higher scores include Tencent's instant messaging platforms QQ and Wechat, online retailer JD.com, Alibaba's e-commerce website Taobao and car-hailing app Didi Chuxing, the report states.

Food delivery apps underperformed in terms of privacy policies, security and maintenance, while courier service apps failed to score highly for personal data policies and privacy protection.

Since the country's Internet Security Law came into effect, regulators have paid particular attention to the information collected and used by internet operators.

China's main online business regulator, the Office of the Central Leading Group for Cyberspace Affairs, introduced new measures on July 26 to review privacy terms of an initial batch of ten internet products and services including WeChat, Taobao and Weibo Corp. [NASDAQ:WB].

The review focused on personal information collected by the firms, how users are notified of this collection, and how the data is used.