Consumer protection gala puts privacy in spotlight

Privacy protection was a focus for this year's 3-15 Evening Gala on Monday, with several enterprises exposed that collected or used people's personal information improperly and illegally.

Premiering in conjunction with International Consumer Rights Day, the gala, which is produce by China Central Television and falls on March 15 every year, is intended to expose business misconduct and help consumers protect their rights.

This year, a number of internet and technology companies, including Qihoo 360, UC Browser and Liepin, were named in the gala and listed with their problematic behavior.

Some companies collected facial recognition information without users' permission, downloaded users' resumes in bulk and provided fake medical advertisements. Their wrongful or illegal acts were exposed to the public during the program.

For example, a Kohler store in Shanghai was found to have installed cameras to collect consumers' facial information, while the online job search company Liepin was discovered having sold users' resumes.

In response, some exposed enterprises have apologized for their misconduct via their official accounts on social media platforms on Monday night, including Liepin.

The company posted a statement on its micro blog, saying it has established a special team to solve the problem disclosed in the gala.

"We resist any behavior that harms the rights of job seekers and would like to join with other job search companies to create a safe recruitment environment for consumers," the statement said. "We welcome supervision from the media and public, and won't dodge our responsibilities."

Personal information and privacy protection have been a hot topic across the country in recent years thanks to fast development of the internet and technologies.

Last year, a draft to China's first law on personal information protection was submitted to the Standing Committee of National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, for first review.