India gov’t to investigate realme’s usage data collection feature that is enabled by default

Idi napalabas a lawas, ti maysa nga Indian nga umili ket inpost iti Twitter ti panagdiscovery na iti maysa a feature ti realme a device nga naka-enable idiay default ken kunada a mangkolekta ti datos ti panagusar na, kas kadagiti call logs, mensahe, lokasion, ken kalendaryo a pasamak.

Ni Rishi Bagree, nga nakadiskubre iti daytoy a feature, kinuna na a kas “basically forced consent” ken kinusisianna no daytoy a datos ket “maipatulod iti China”. Kalpasan daytoy a pakasaknan, ti Ministro ti Estado para iti Teknolohia ti Impormasyon ti India, ni Rajeev Chandrasekhar, kinuna na a “maipatarus ken maikeddeng daytoy”.

Will hv this tested and checked @rishibagree

copy: @GoI_MeitY https://t.co/4hkA5YWsIg

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) June 16, 2023

Ti nasao a feature, a naawagan “Enhanced Intelligent Services,” ket saan a maikeddeng a nakatago laeng iti nalawag a panagkita—maala babaen ti bassit a pagtap tapno mapan iti Settings ti telepono (Settings -> Additional Settings -> System Services -> Enhanced Intelligent Services).

Idiay dagiti sungbat, kunada met dagiti dadduma a users nga naipaidam ti feature a naka-activate met laeng iti OnePlus, realme’s a kaputotan a brand babaen ti BBK Electronics a nagtaudan—maysa a kompanya a nakabase idiay Guangzhou, China.

This is by default enabled with One plus phone too. pic.twitter.com/zxHDLEd1Kj

— CDAS (@chinmayicysun) June 16, 2023

The phone's settings indicate that the Enhanced Intelligent Services feature is necessary for several functions. For instance, the charging optimization feature needs access to location information and app usage statistics, while the wallpapers and other personalization features require data on unread messages, missed calls, and other crucial information.

Upon verifying, we can confirm that the Enhanced Intelligent Services feature is enabled by default on our realme 10 Pro+ 5G, but interestingly, it is not present on the realme C53.

One thing is certain: sending diagnostic data is not a stranger in smartphone brands. Xiaomi and Samsung also have a similar approach to "send diagnostic data" of sorts. However, what is bothersome is where the data is sent, how the data is managed, and most importantly, why the feature is enabled without the user’s consent.