We need special law to protect users' data

Editor's Note: A public debate is still raging on whether Tencent and Alibaba, developers of popular mobile apps WeChat and Alipay, respectively, have the right to infringe on users' privacy, even after Tencent denied it stores users' chat records, and Alibaba apologized for deceiving users into authorizing it to store their data. Do we need legislation to prevent illegal access to and misuse of people's private information? Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily's Zhang Zhouxiang. Excerpts follow:

No real protection for smartphone users

WeChat said they "do not keep the chat records of users". We are not sure about that, but we are sure that they can do so whenever they want to.