Internet giant Alibaba's UC Web has come under Indian government scrutiny as part of ongoing investigations against Chinese companies over alleged data theft. A top official in the Ministry of Electronics and IT, said, “Complaints have been received against UC Browser that it sends mobile data of Indian users to servers in China. The matter is being looked into,” the official said.
As per a Stat-Counter report, UC Web is the second most used web browser in India after Google Chrome, and leads mobile phone segment with 48.7 per cent market share. A spokesperson for the browser said it takes security and privacy very seriously. They added, “It is a common practice for IT companies to place servers all around the globe to provide better services to users... We will not do anything to breach trust of our users. At UC Web, we work hard to comply with local regulations of each region we operate in... We have strong measures in place to encrypt the data while we transmit it.”
The spokesperson defended the decision to collect user data. “It is also a standard industry practice to collect user information and data in necessary scenarios to provide users with localised services. We take necessary authorisation from users to collect this data. Our systems are protected by an end-user licensing agreement which protect the interest of our users.”
An IT ministry official said there were fears that data was being stolen even when the app has been uninstalled by a user. “There are complaints that even if a user has cleaned browsing data, the browser retains control of DNS (domain name server) of user's device,” the official said. UC Browser is part of Alibaba's mobile business group.
