Taikoo Li Qiantan looks like a nice place but watch your app permissions (Source: Swire Properties)
Taikoo Li Qiantan shopping mall, a Swire Properties joint venture in Shanghai’s Qiantan area, has apologised for violating Chinese data privacy rules after it shopping app caught the attention of a local consumer watchdog.
The state-run Shanghai Morning Post said on 16 August on the Twitter-like Weibo platform that shoppers complained that the mall sought too much information from users registering on its WeChat mini program.
The mall’s shopping app required that users give it access to photos and videos, ID card numbers, bank account numbers and travel records. The mall also required users to consent to its handling of sensitive personal data, the newspaper said. A screenshot showed that agreement to the app’s privacy policy was compulsory for registration.
Swire’s demands violate China’s Cybersecurity Law and guidelines on apps’ collection of personal information, the newspaper cited local lawyer Hou Chaohui, as saying.
Consumer Council on the Case
“A privacy policy should list one by one the services provided to the users, and specify the corresponding personal information collected for each service. This privacy policy, however, lumps the types of information collected together without specifying the purposes,” Hou said.
Swire Properties chairman Guy Bradley
News of the mall’s demands on its visitors’ personal information trended on Weibo where a post describing the mini program’s privacy requirements garnered over 5.8 million views in two days and caught the attention of the Shanghai Consumer Council.
The council, a government-affiliated consumer protection group, republished the report by the Shanghai Morning Post’s 021 Video outlet on its official WeChat account on 18 August.
On Tuesday, the council said over WeChat that Taikoo Li Qiantan had apologised for causing confusion and apprehension.
Aiming to Improve
The mall’s management said it had made improvements such as seeking consent from consumers who now only need to provide their mobile phone number for registration, with the remaining information provided voluntarily, the council noted.
The Swire shopping centre’s leadership also promised to properly store, use and protect the personal information of consumers. The council said it applauded the mall for its “quick response” and “proactive improvement”.
Taikoo Li Qiantan is a 50-50 joint-venture between Swire Properties and state-owned developer Lujiazui Group. Located near the Oriental Sports Center subway station, it is the third “Taikoo Li” project in China after Taikoo Li Sanlitun in Beijing and Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu.
About 250 stores are in the mall, which has a gross floor area of 1.3 million square feet (120,000 square metres). Opened in September 2021 the mall was at 91 percent occupancy as of 30 June, according to Swire Properties’ interim report.
People’s Republic of Privacy
With the increased use of mobile apps in China, the excessive collection of consumer data by apps has also become prevalent, Mike Cen, a lawyer from Hansheng Law Office in Shanghai, told Mingtiandi.
“Operators of services over the internet must follow the principles of ‘legal, just, and necessary’ when collecting personal information, according to China’s laws and regulations including the Cybersecurity Law. Operators are not supposed to collect any personal information unrelated to their services provided,” Cen said.
Retailers and others collecting customer data must also use easy-to-understand language and allow users to opt in to information collection, he added. He sees the Taikoo Li Qiantan incident as a positive sign that Chinese consumers have become more aware of personal information protection.
A Chinese court made a landmark ruling in 2020 that Hangzhou Safari Park had no right to collect facial recognition data without the consent of visitors. Last November, China’s first comprehensive legislation on personal information protection, the Personal Information Protection Law, became effective.
Still, a poll by Shanghai Morning Post over Weibo earlier this month showed that 89 percent of 571 respondents said they do not read carefully the terms and conditions when they sign up for internet-based services.
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