Investigating Bystander Privacy in Chinese Smart Home Apps

A new study analyzing 49 Chinese smart home apps reveals significant privacy gaps, particularly for bystanders like visitors. While most apps nominally comply with regulations, researchers found major discrepancies between written policies and actual implementation. The analysis shows inconsistent data controls, lack of transparency in data-sharing, and complete absence of bystander privacy protections in both policies and interface designs. The study also uncovered mismatches between App Store privacy labels and actual data practices.