China cracks down on personal information collection. No, seriously

Asia In Brief China last week commenced a crackdown on inappropriate collection and subsequent use of personal information.

The Middle Kingdom’s Cyberspace Administration, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly announced their intention to deepen enforcement of privacy laws by conducting a crackdown in six settings:

Apps and mini-apps embedded in social media services. China worries operators don’t spell out rules for personal information collection, require permission to access users contacts or media files when that’s not necessary for an app’s functions, and don’t allow opting out or complaints. Software development kits that don’t include features that allow developers to bake privacy into their code. Wearables and smart home products that don’t inform users about the information they collect. Illegal use of facial recognition information in public places, or doing so without securing consent, providing warnings, or protecting biometric data. Offline collection of personal info when citizens scan codes to order food in restaurants, pay for goods in retail stores, or through mandatory collection of phone numbers, birthdays, and other information. Illegal collection of personal information by recruiters, transport operators, educational organizations, providers of medical care, and accommodation providers.

The agencies responsible for the crackdown didn’t say why it’s needed, but vowed they would ensure their efforts deliver swift results.

None of the targets of the campaign are government entities, an unsurprising omission given China conducts pervasive surveillance of its citizens.

Indonesia ends iPhone 16 ban

Apple has announced it will start to sell the iPhone 16 in Indonesia.

Indonesia banned the device last year, that it wanted Apple to make a larger investment in the nation’s tech ecosystem.

That investment was announced in early March when Indonesia’s Industry Ministry revealed Apple had agreed to build an R&&D facility in the country.

No details of that facility and its activities are available, but Indonesia’s government claimed a big win as this will be just the second Apple R&D facility outside the USA.

Whatever Apple will do in Indonesia, the iCompany last week announced the iPhone 16 will go on sale in the world fourth-most-populous nation from April 11.

If any of those who acquire the handset are aged 18 or under, they won’t be allowed to use the iDevice to access some social media services after President Prabowo Subianto last Friday inaugurated the Government Regulation on the Governance of Electronic System Organizers in Child Protection.

The Regulation requires social media platforms not to allow account registrations by children aged under 13. 16 year-olds will only be able to create accounts with parental assistance and supervision.

Japanese chip assemblers form alliance

More than 20 Japanese companies that provide outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) services will form an alliance, according to a Nikkei report.

The companies will apparently work on plans to procure supplies together, conduct joint research, and work together to create a pipeline of talent.

Nikkei’s report states that Japan’s OSAT industry features many small players, and this alliance is aimed at helping them all to compete with larger players in other nations.

China bans compulsory facial recognition and its use in private spaces like hotel rooms China announces plan to label all AI-generated content with watermarks and metadata India wants backdoors into clouds, email, SaaS, for tax inspectors India's top telco plans cloud PCs for its 475 million subscribers

Japan Airlines writing flight reports with offline Gen AI

Japan Airlines has equipped its cabin crew with tablet computers running a Microsoft’s Phi‑4 small language model to help them write flight reports.

According to MIcrosoft, incidents like long delays or illness on a flight requires creation of a report that can take up to an hour to write.

An app built by Fujitsu and an outfit called Headwaters instead offers a chat interface that allows cabin staff to enter “a few keywords and phrases and checking a series of boxes” to produce reports. The app also translates the reports from Japanese to English.

The model runs on the devices and doesn’t require connectivity, so reports are ready for upload after landing.

The app was tested in a pilot that ends today, but JAL hopes for a full deployment.

India claims 25 percent rocket engine payload boost

India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) last week claimed it’s made progress on the design of a Semicryogenic Liquid Oxygen/Kerosene engine with a high thrust of 2000 kN that will power the booster stage of the LVM3 launch vehicle it used for a 2023 moonshot.

A test staged on March 28 succeeded to the extent that ISRO believes it can upgrade the LVM3 so its payload to geostationary transfer orbit will increase from four to five tonnes.

India can use that extra capacity as it plans mission including its first crewed launch, a mission to Venus, and a space station. ®