Last month, a publication reported that a specific handset from Xiaomi secretly uploads user’s data to a Chinese server, which sparked quite a controversy. Hugo Barra, VP at Xiaomi, quickly took to Google+ to explain users that the company respects its users privacy, and their servers only requests public data from users’ handsets. However, recently tests concluded by F-Secure once again pointed at Xiaomi secretly requesting and sending data from user handsets without their consent, which again led many users to doubt the company’s ethics. This has again led Hugo Barra to clarify the company’s stance on users privacy and data, and provide an in-depth explanation about how MIUI Cloud Messaging works — which many people think is the culprit here. MIUI Cloud Messaging allows Xiaomi users to send messages to each other without incurring any additional costs. It works by routing the user’s messages “via IP instead of using the carrier’s SMS gateway.” The service uses device identifiers and phone number for routing messages between two users — something which nearly all the popular messaging services out there do. The messages sent by the users are only kept for a short time on Xiaomi’s server in an encrypted form, and are deleted as soon as it is delivered to its intended recipient. At no point does the company breach the privacy of users who are using its MIUI Cloud Messaging platform and has taken adequate measures to keep their data encrypted as well. By default, the MIUI Cloud Messaging service was automatically activated for all Xiaomi users as soon as they inserted their SIM in the phone. However, to protect user data and end the privacy concerns surrounding the company, Xiaomi has decided to make MIUI Cloud Messaging an opt-in service from now. An OTA update is scheduled to roll-out from today that will implement this change. Hugo has also given a complete technical breakdown of how the MIUI Cloud Messaging platform works, in case users still have doubt that the company is invading their privacy.
