CCTV Expose Attacks Netease, Apple, AutoNavi, Telcos
Beijing Youth Daily, 3/15/13
CCTV aired its Consumer Rights Day special investigative report on Friday March 15, Beijing time. Companies detailed in the report include Chinese internet firms Netease (Nasdaq: NTES), Sina (Nasdaq: SINA), and Tianya.cn, digital map provider AutoNavi (Nasdaq: AMAP), China's three major telecom operators, and Apple.
Allegations from the investigation are as follows:
Netease: Any user accessing Netease's homepage will have third-party user tracking code installed on their machine, allowing third-party access to private user information. Netease email users routinely have the entire contents of their emails analyzed by Netease in order to receive more targeted advertising. Through tracking user behavior, Netease has established a database with relevant information on many of its users.
Apple: Apple has not honored the one-year warranty period for many of its smartphones sold in China. As detailed in the investigation, when Apple customers take their handset in for a repair in China, the phone's original back cover is used in the new repaired unit, as opposed to presenting customers with a completely new handset as is typically done outside of China. This prevents Apple from having to extend or renew its one-year warranty because customers are still technically using their original handset.
China's Broadband Operators, Sina, and Tianya: China's three major telecom and broadband operators, China Telecom (NYSE: CHA; 0728.HK), China Unicom (NYSE: CHU; 0762.HK; 600050.SH), and China Mobile (NYSE: CHL; 0941.HK), have partnered with advertisers to place unblockable pop-up ads on user computers. When users visit Sina, Tianya, or a number of other sites, a separate popup ad placed by a telecom operator will appear on user screens.
AutoNavi: AutoNavi's Android mobile app steals user information and sends it to AutoNavi servers for advertiser use. AutoNavi has responded to the allegations, stating that the feature was present in older versions of AutoNavi's Android app but has since been removed.
In tandem with the investigate report, a number of Chinese celebrities and industry leaders "spontaneously" posted messages on their official microblogging accounts criticizing a number of companies detailed in the report. One spontaneous criticizer, actor Peter Ho, posted a criticism of Apple on his microblogging account as well as the words "to be sent out around 8:20." The post, which has since been deleted, has led many to speculate that the "spontaneous" criticism of the companies detailed in CCTV's report was, in fact, a coordinated effort on behalf of CCTV or another organization.
Keywords: Netease China Telecom China Mobile China Unicom Internet warranty Tianya CCTV online advertising Apple CHL Sina 0728.HK 0762.HK 0941.HK 600050.SH CHA CHU NTES AutoNavi AMAP Peter Ho e-mapping e-mail mobile application scam consumer protection
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