(Yicai Global) Dec. 2 -- China is set to limit the gathering of personal data by 38 types of commonly-used mobile apps, such as digital maps and navigation services, car-hailing and instant-messaging ones, to secure users’ personal information, but without impairing their access to basic functions and services like safety management, news and short videos.

Excessive and compulsory collection of users’ necessary private information has become an almost universal feature of the ever-growing application of mobile and internet short programs in recent years, with users often unable to install and operate these without consenting to such data mining.

The Cyberspace Administration of China yesterday solicited public comments on a draft regulation that will restrict the scale of necessary personal data disclosure to the enumerated mobile apps. "Necessary personal information" here refers to users’ private details required to ensure the normal operation of basic functions of apps, which are incapacitated from providing essential services in its absence.

Apps may not block installation if users consent to the collection of necessary info, which includes, e.g. personal details vital for ride-hailing apps, such as mobile phone numbers or other authentic identity details of users registering accounts, starting points and destinations, specific locations, and real-time tracking. Such information collected from the account registries of online communities and blogs includes cellphone numbers and other genuine data that verifies identity.

The public-comment draft mandates that users need not supply personal information to access the basic functions and services of 11 app types, among them those used to find and kill computer viruses, and those for news, short videos, online browsers, photography and photo retouching, sports and body building, as well as live streaming.

Editor: Ben Armour, Xiao Yi