iFkyteck's exhibition booth in the 2023 World AI Conference 

BEIJING, September 22 (TMTPost) -- TMTPost has learned that iFLYTEK, a listed AI company (SHE: 002230), had its note-taking tool application "iFLYTEK Voice Notes" for iOS removed from the Apple App Store.

At the same time, iFLYTEK used the name of individual developers to launch "DingDang Schedule" on its official website to replace "iFLYTEK Voice Notes". The interface of "DingDang Schedule" is significantly different from "iFLYTEK Voice Notes". In other words, iPhone users cannot download iFLYTEK Voice Notes, but the data information of iFLYTEK Voice Notes will be transferred to the "DingDang Schedule" of individual developers.

On Friday morning, iFLYTEK customer service confirmed to TMTPost App: "DingDang Schedule" is the product that replaces "iFLYTEK Voice Notes" on Apple phones. If you are a member of iFLYTEK Voice Notes, you can download "DingDang Schedule" from the Apple App Store and use it. The rights, account system, and functionality of the notes are also interoperable, but the interfaces of the two applications are significantly different. In addition, iFLYTEK customer service also confirmed that iFLYTEK Voice Notes will no longer be available on iOS.

"There is no difference in functionality. The user agreement and privacy policy terms are almost the same. The actual interface displayed on the page shall prevail. DingDang Schedule is an app we developed, and you can use it with confidence. If you encounter any problems during use, you can give us feedback in a timely manner," iFLYTEK customer service told TMTPost App.

However, according to the privacy policy of the DingDang Schedule app, as stated in sections 3 and 4: in order to provide the products and services you request, this app must share your personal information with third parties; the information and data collected about you will be stored on the servers of this app and/or its affiliated companies, and may be transmitted to and accessed, stored, and displayed in countries, regions, or locations outside of your country or the location where the information and data are collected by this app.

According to section 4 of chapter 5 of the DingDang Schedule User Agreement, if the account for the free service registered by the user is not actually used for any consecutive 90-day period, or if the user does not actually use the account within 10 days after being prompted to do so, this app has the right to delete the account and stop providing related services to the user.

However, the above-mentioned three clauses are not mentioned in the User Agreement and Privacy Policy of the iFlytek VoiceNote on the official website of iFlytek.

This means that once users use the "DingDang Schedule" app, their personal information may be obtained by third-party channels and may be accessed, stored, and disclosed overseas, thereby exposing them to the risk of illegal user attacks and resale of personal information. Moreover, if the iFlytek VoiceNote account is not used within three months, the account may be forcibly deleted by the DingDang Schedule platform and the service may be stopped.

iFlytek was established in 1999 and was restructured as iFlytek Information Technology Co., Ltd. of the University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui. On May 12, 2008, iFlytek was listed on the Small and Medium Enterprise Board of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 2022, iFlytek's operating income was 18.82 billion yuan.

"iFlytek VoiceNote" is a comprehensive cloud note-taking app produced by iFlytek that focuses on voice input. It is a tool product provided to C-end customers based on iFlytek's AI speech recognition technology. It supports real-time voice dictation, conference recording transcription, photo recognition, text and image layout, and voice reading by speakers. It claims to have 40 million users and the Android version is developed by iFlytek (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd.

Tianyancha information shows that iFLYTEK (Shanghai) Technology Co., Ltd. was established in 2019. It is a company mainly engaged in technology promotion and application services. The registered capital of the company is 105 million yuan, and the legal representative is Ding Tongtong. The company is wholly owned by iFLYTEK Co., Ltd.

"DingDang Schedule" is a lightweight and efficient to-do list and schedule management tool, integrating cloud notes, focus clock, text translation, text recognition, PDF to Word conversion, and other tools. It is an app that meets all office needs. The developer's name is Wei Yun.

According to Qimai data, DingDang Schedule was launched in August 2022 and has undergone 10 version updates in the past year. It has released version 4.0 on September 1st this year, upgrading its DingDang AI inspiration generation capability, and so on.

Industry insiders revealed to the TMTPost App that the delisting of "iFLYTEK Recorder" may be related to Apple's data security measures. This time, "DingDang Schedule" bypassed Apple's review and was listed on the App Store through personal development, which does not comply with data security laws and regulations.

In its official website's application download interface, the iOS version download is guided to an unfamiliar personal developer application without clear notification to the users, which is inappropriate.

According to the newly revised "Network Security Measures," cases where the data processing activities of network platform operators may affect or have an impact on national security are included in the network security review. It explicitly requires network platform operators who handle personal information of over one million users to apply for review from relevant departments.

According to the newly revised "Data Security Law," data processing activities include activities such as data collection, storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, and disclosure. The "Measures" focus on network platform operators who engage in the above-mentioned data processing activities that may affect or have an impact on national security.

According to the requirements of the "Data Security Law," when conducting data processing activities, one should comply with laws, regulations, respect social morality and ethics, abide by business ethics and professional ethics, be honest and trustworthy, fulfill data security obligations, assume social responsibilities, and must not harm national security or public interests, or infringe upon the legitimate rights and interests of individuals or organizations. At the same time, any organization or individual that collects data should do so in a legal and proper manner and must not steal or obtain data through other illegal means. If the purpose and scope of collecting and using data are specified by laws and administrative regulations, the data should be collected and used within the purposes and scope specified by laws and administrative regulations.

According to the "Measures for the Security Review of Network Operations," the focus of the evaluation of internet platform operators going public abroad is the potential risks of core data, important data, or a large amount of personal information being stolen, leaked, damaged, illegally utilized, or illegally taken out of the country. It also includes the risks of critical information infrastructure, core data, important data, or a large amount of personal information being influenced, controlled, or maliciously utilized by foreign governments, as well as risks related to network information security.

However, apps with a large number of users like "Dingdang Schedule" and "iFlytek Voice Notes" have inadequate privacy policies and face security risks, causing more users to worry.

Regarding the deletion of accounts, the customer service of iFlytek told TMTPost App, "If you registered for 'Dingdang Schedule' but didn't use it, you will need to log in and register again next time. It won't have any impact on you, and we will not delete the content in your account."

Previously, on September 5th of this year, the iOS version of another AI large-scale model dialogue robot application developed by iFlytek, called "iFlytek Starfire," was removed from the Apple App Store for several hours, attracting attention. However, iFlytek did not explain the reason for the removal.

(This article was first published on TMTPost App, Author: Lin Zhijia, Editor: Ma Jinnan)

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