One thing Britain is exceptionally good at is collecting and using health data for research, studying cohorts of people over many decades. A shudder of alarm rippled through the research world at the news this week that UK Biobank’s data had been put up for sale on China’s Alibaba site, with the science minister, Patrick Vallance, saying that more attempts to sell the data in China were expected. Some sensationalised reporting failed to make clear enough that no names, addresses, NHS numbers or other identifiers were included, nor that the…
Tag: Data protection
More private health records of UK Biobank volunteers appear on Chinese website
There have been further listings of confidential health records of UK volunteers on the Chinese website Alibaba since the breach reported last week, and the government is braced for further leaks, the science minister has said. Addressing a House of Lords debate on the attempted sale of data belonging to 500,000 UK Biobank volunteers, Patrick Vallance said the government had worked with Chinese officials to remove additional postings on the online marketplace. “New listings will emerge – there have been additional listings posted since the government were made aware of…
UK firm not racist for rejecting Chinese applicant over security concerns, tribunal rules
Refusing to give a job to Chinese and Russian people in companies that deal with issues of national security and require security clearance is not racist, an employment tribunal has ruled. It is not discriminatory to stop people from “hostile” states taking up certain jobs in the defence sector because of the risk to British security, the judgment says. The ruling relates to the case of a Chinese scientist who accused a British AI company with ties to the UK and US defence departments of racism after she was not…
TikTok fined €530m by Irish regulator for failing to guarantee China would not access user data
TikTok has been fined €530m (£452m) by an Irish watchdog over a failure to guarantee that European user data sent to China would not be accessed by the Chinese government. Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) regulates TikTok across the European Economic Area (EEA), which includes all 27 EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. It found the Chinese-owned video-sharing app breached general data protection regulation (GDPR) by not addressing whether EEA user data sent to China would be shielded from that country’s authorities. The DPC said: “TikTok did not…
China’s manipulation of media threatens global freedoms, says US report
China is manipulating global media through censorship, data harvesting and covert purchases of foreign news outlets, according to a new report from the US state department, which warned the trend could lead to a “sharp contraction” of global freedom of expression. The report released on Thursday found that Beijing had spent billions of dollars annually on information manipulation efforts, including by acquiring stakes in foreign media through “public and non-public means”, sponsoring online influencers and securing distribution agreements that promote unlabelled Chinese government content. The Chinese embassy in Washington did…
WeChat user numbers plummet nearly 30% in Australia amid concerns of Chinese interference
WeChat has said its user numbers in Australia have declined almost 30% in the past three years, amid questions being raised about foreign interference on the app. Tencent-owned WeChat told a parliamentary committee examining foreign interference on social media that as of July 2023, the communications app favoured by Australia’s Chinese diaspora community had fewer than 500,000 daily active users in Australia. The company told the committee in 2020 that its user base was 690,000. No reason was given for the decline in user numbers in Australia in the past…
Australian government resists blanket WeChat ban despite restrictions by multiple departments
The Australian government is resisting issuing a ban on WeChat on government devices despite many government departments instituting their own bans after the TikTok edict earlier this month. TikTok was banned from government devices in early April over data collection and security concerns connected to the Chinese government. The move followed a review by the home affairs department which examined a range of social media platforms, but TikTok was the only app singled out for an immediate ban. At the time TikTok was banned, dozens of federal departments had already…
MPs call for UK to ban Chinese gene research firm from government contracts
Rishi Sunak is under pressure to follow the US and bar the Chinese genome research company BGI Group from government contracts as the firm recommitted to continue its work in the UK. MPs on the defence, foreign and health select committees along with former Lib Dem cabinet minister Alistair Carmichael have joined calls for action over fears that the company and others pose a security risk to genetic data in the UK. Last week, Washington added BGI subsidiaries BGI Research and BGI Tech Solutions to a trade blacklist due to…
China instructs state firms to phase out big four auditors
The Chinese government has reportedly instructed state-owned companies to phase out contracts with the big four accounting including KPMG and EY, as authorities try to address security concerns and curb the influence of western-linked auditors. China’s finance ministry is among the government entities that has issued informal guidance last month, urging state-owned corporations to let contracts with Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PwC expire, according to Bloomberg News. They have reportedly been told to use local auditors from China and Hong Kong, as part of efforts to support the local audit…
TikTok: how the west has turned on gen Z’s favourite app
The FBI has called it a national security threat. The US government has passed a law forcing officials to delete it from their phones. Texas senator Ted Cruz has denounced it as “a Trojan horse the Chinese Communist party can use to influence what Americans see, hear, and ultimately think”. And in March its CEO will defend its existence before the US Congress. For those unaware of the debate broiling on the other side of the Atlantic, the target of this strong rhetoric might prove surprising: an app best known…