DeepSeek AI Accused of Sharing User Data with Banned Chinese Telecom
Security researchers have discovered that DeepSeek may be transmitting user login information to China Mobile, a state-owned telecommunications firm banned from operating in the United States due to alleged ties to the Chinese military. This revelation raises significant concerns about user privacy and national security.
According to a report by Feroot Security, DeepSeek's website contains code that captures user credentials during account creation and login processes. While DeepSeek's privacy policy acknowledges that user data is stored on servers in China, the involvement of China Mobile suggests a deeper connection to Chinese state infrastructure than previously understood. Ivan Tsarynny, CEO of Feroot Security, stated, "It’s mindboggling that we are unknowingly allowing China to survey Americans and we’re doing nothing about it."
Further analysis by independent security experts confirmed the presence of the code but did not observe data being transmitted to China Mobile during tests conducted in North America. However, they could not rule out the possibility that such transmissions occur under different circumstances.
This discovery adds to the growing list of security concerns surrounding DeepSeek. The company recently faced a "large-scale cyberattack" that led to a temporary suspension of new user registrations. Additionally, DeepSeek has been accused of using data from competitors like OpenAI and Microsoft without permission to train its AI models.
Stewart Baker, a former official with the Department of Homeland Security and the National Security Agency, compared the situation to previous controversies involving Chinese apps, stating that DeepSeek "raises all of the TikTok concerns, plus you’re talking about information that is highly likely to be of more national security and personal significance than anything people do on TikTok."
As DeepSeek continues to gain popularity, these revelations underscore the importance of scrutinizing the data practices of AI applications, especially those with potential connections to foreign state-owned entities.
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keyword: accused.
Meanwhile Apple was just ordered by the UK to open encrypted user accounts globally to UK spying. The order would give the UK access to encrypted backups belonging to any user — not just Brits.
Every accusation is a confession.
well it didn’t take long for US Government to start Banning it…todays news is the US Gov want to ban DeepSeek from Gov officials phones, lol sound familiar? ..as I predicted. lol
“Additionally, DeepSeek has been accused of using data from competitors like OpenAI and Microsoft without permission to train its AI models.”
You mean the data OpenAI and Microsoft took without the explicit permission of the data’s owners? What we might call stealing…
Seriously arguing about the merits of these models from the US or China is like arguing whether McDonald’s or Burger King is healthier for you if are one of those other people who live in the rest of the world (as some of us do).
If they’re transmitting user information, use a VPN and their free client. No need to panic here.
It was written on the walls that this was to happen sooner than later.
“(…) the importance of scrutinizing the data practices of AI applications, especially those with potential connections to foreign state-owned entities.”. Perhaps as well with all applications. Connections, inter-connections, trans-connections, everywhere, constantly nowadays, especially on non-protected devices and moreover when the device is a smartphone.
What must be understood by “foreign state-owned entities”? To what point are whatever private digital entities not tied to state-owned ones? Those *not* of the Western world? Otherwise, foreign state-owned or private entities include those with servers in the U.S.A. for anyone out of the States, and that includes European countries. Am I, here in Europe, more secure with my data transiting/landing on U.S. servers than on those of China? Am I more secure when my smartphone gets hacked by a private company based in Mid-East with servers in the States? To make it short, where is privacy & security reliable nowadays, what countries should be considered havens of trust? Switzerland, Netherlands, Germany? And what about private data landing there after having transited elsewhere? Encrypted data, is it that secure?
Many questions when you start digging into what is digital privacy.
what a heap of gobbledygook…
Does that mean you disagree or is it that you’d agree should I have commented in a more comprehensible way? Perhaps did I try to express too many nuances within a too short paragraph, too quickly, written as thought, not to mention that English is not my mother-tongue (I had to lookup for the word ‘gobbledygook’). I’d appreciate to have your feelings about Western world privacy versus that of the Eastern World.