China Forces Muslim Minority to Install Spyware on Their Phones

‘Chinese authorities in the province of Xinjiang are forcing locals of the Uyghur Muslim minority to install an app on their phones that will allow the government to scan their device for “terrorist propaganda,” local media reports.
In reality, the app creates MD5 hashes for the user’s files and matches them against a database of known terrorist content.
The app also makes copies of the user’s Weibo and WeChat databases and uploads it to a government server, along with the user’s IMEI, IMSI, and WiFi login information.
The app is called Jingwang (Citizen Safety) and was developed by police forces from Ürümqi, Xinjiang’s capital. Authorities launched the app in April, and also included the ability to report suspicious activity to the police.
At the start of July, Xinjiang officials started sending WeChat messages in Uyghur and Chinese to locals, asking them to install the app or face detainment of up to 10 days.’
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