If everyone is reborn, who will work for capital?

Chapter 176: Kik Gains the Appreciation of a Top Leader and Becomes an Internet Sensation

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Academic Activity Center Hotel.

A one-and-a-half-day "Personal Information Protection Legal Forum" and the release conference of the "White Paper on Personal Information Protection on Mobile Internet" are being held.

This conference, hosted by the School of Law of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, brought together top experts in the field of information law, legal scholars and lawyers, business representatives, and representatives from major news media outlets, including Xinhua News Agency.

Thanks to the proactive participation of Li, the head of the preparatory group of the Cyberspace Administration of China, and Chen, the deputy director of the Communications Security Bureau of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the conference has been upgraded from an ordinary seminar to a semi-official forum.

The president of Jiaotong University, the top official in charge of the Shanghai Municipal Political and Legal Affairs Commission, the president of the Shanghai Law Society, and other leaders were all present.

The meeting was chaired by Professor Xia Qisheng of the Law School of Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The opening ceremony was held in the morning, with speeches delivered by President Zhao of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, President of the Municipal Law Society, Deputy Director Chen, and Group Leader Li.

In the subsequent keynote speech session, Zhou Hua, a researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Qi Min, a professor at Chongqing University, Lin Zhixiang, a professor at Peking University Law School, and Dong Yu, a professor at Fudan University, delivered keynote speeches in turn.

After lunch, industry representatives, technical experts, legal experts, and lawyers began a special seminar.

At 3:30 p.m., after the tea break, leaders from the Shanghai political and legal system and President Zhao from Shanghai Jiao Tong University accompanied Team Leader Li and Deputy Director Chen back to the venue, just as the company case sharing session was about to begin.

Professor Bu Qisheng cleared his throat and announced, "In the next segment, we have invited a special guest speaker. He is not a legal expert, but his company is in an industry that is at the forefront of personal information protection."

He paused, then looked at Geng Zhi in the first row: "Now, let's give a warm round of applause to our representative entrepreneur..."

Geng Zhi, founder, chairman and CEO of Mingfan Technology, took the stage to share Momo's practices in protecting personal information.

""

Snap! Snap! Snap!

Geng Zhi stood up and walked steadily toward the podium.

Team Leader Li turned to President Zhao of Jiaotong University and asked, "President Zhao, this straightforward guy, is he a student from your Jiaotong University?"

Principal Zhao was unsure and looked at Dean Xie, who was accompanying him.

"Yes, Team Leader Li. To be precise, I will officially become a first-year graduate student in the School of Computer Science at Jiaotong University after the start of the semester in September this year," Dean Xie replied.

Team Leader Li nodded slightly, asked no further questions, and began to focus his attention on the stage.

Geng Zhi had already stood still, and Zi Guang confidently swept his gaze across the audience.

"Distinguished leaders and experts, good afternoon. I am Geng Zhi, founder of Mingfan Technology. Our product is called Momo, a mobile social platform, which some of you may have used."

He pressed the remote control, and the Momo app logo and the "Hello, Stranger" splash screen appeared on the big screen.

"Since its launch, Momo has reached 500 million users in four months and four days."

The number 5,000,000 appeared on the big screen.

Team Leader Li and Deputy Director Chen exchanged a glance, both revealing a hint of surprise in their eyes.

"Today, we are surrounded by experts and leaders from the legal and legislative fields. I am not here to discuss legal provisions. I am here to tell you all..."

Geng Zhi paused briefly, then continued, "In the battlefield of mobile internet, the protection of personal information is no longer a question of 'whether to do it,' but a question of 'if we don't act now, it will be too late.'"

Geng Zhi pressed the laser pointer, and the core data from the 26th Statistical Report on Internet Development, just released by CNNIC, appeared on the large screen: "As of the end of June, the number of internet users in my country has exceeded 400 million, reaching 420 million. The number of mobile internet users increased by 4334 in the past six months."

The number of people reached 2.77 million.

He paused, then emphasized, "What does this mean? One in three Chinese people is online. And the fastest growing is mobile internet. This speed is faster than anyone expected."

His straightforward tone turned serious: "Momo has 500 million users, and every day, 150 million people make new friends on Momo. Their location, interests, chat history—all this information is on Momo's servers."

He turned to the next page, which was a diagram showing the dimensions of user information that the Momo app can access within a legal and compliant framework: "Many people don't know that a mobile app can request dozens of permissions after a user installs it. These include reading location, reading contacts, accessing the photo album, calling the camera, recording call status, and reading the list of apps on the phone —"

"Some permissions may be granted to users without their knowledge."

As he spoke, Team Leader Li frowned.

The lawyers and reporters in the audience stared wide-eyed and began to discuss among themselves. Many of them...

That's when I realized that mobile devices have far more permissions than PCs.

Geng Zhi gave the audience seven or eight seconds to react with surprise before continuing, "What does this mean? It means that when you open an app, it may already know where you are, who you know, what you like, and what time you go to bed."

His tone turned serious: "This information, if used legally and compliantly, can improve the user experience. But what if it's misused, leaked, or sold? The consequences would be unimaginable!"

Geng Zhi continued pressing the laser pointer, and several shocking news headlines appeared on the large screen, one of which was about something that had just happened:

Data on 12 VIP customers of a certain telecommunications operator was sold.

The names, phone numbers, and home addresses of 12 VIP customers were all sold. Among the victims, some were murdered by their enemies as a result.

The lecture hall fell silent; some people bowed their heads, while others wore solemn expressions.

Geng Zhi continued flipping through the PowerPoint slides, and the logos of Facebook and Google appeared on the big screen, along with a few lines of English text: "In May 2010, a Facebook technical glitch exposed users' private chat information, affecting 550 million users."

In May 2010, Google Street View cars "accidentally" collected WiFi privacy data from more than 30 countries, including email content and passwords.

He looked down at the audience: "The United States has taken a few steps ahead of us in mobile internet, and we will make the same mistakes they are making."

The problems they are experiencing are the problems we will also experience.

Geng Zhi continued turning the page, which contained a summary of a recent research report from Duke University, Pennsylvania State University, and Intel Labs: "Researchers found that more than half of the 30 popular Android apps shared location information and unique device identifiers with GG networks or third-party servers without the user's explicit consent."

His blunt tone intensified again: "Some apps even send GPS coordinates every 30 seconds, even if GG isn't displayed on the screen. It knows exactly where your phone is. What time you get up, what time you leave, what time you come home—one app knows it all."

"Google has gained access to more precise user profiles and is making a fortune, but what about the privacy and security of the vast majority of users? Who will protect them?"

He paused, then turned to the audience and asked, "American researchers have already identified the problem. When did our researchers begin to pay attention?"

The audience fell silent.

Team Leader Li's lips moved, but even under the air conditioning, his shirt seemed to stick to his body, and he couldn't speak.

The issues he recognized were not only about citizens' privacy, but also about national security.

Team Leader Li jotted down a few words in his notebook and then continued to concentrate on waiting for the young CEO on stage to give the next answer.

Geng Zhi gave the audience enough time to think before pressing the laser pointer and continuing his speech.

The screen displays Momo's product design diagram, with four lines appearing one by one: "First, location blurring. Dating strangers is not navigation; we will no longer display the user's precise geographical location, but only vague distances such as 'within 300 meters' or 'within 1 kilometer,' to protect user privacy."

"Secondly, chat logs are encrypted end-to-end. Only the users themselves know what they chat about. Momo's servers cannot see it."

"Third, location history can be erased with one click. Users can choose at any time to clear all location records, as if they had never been there."

At this point, Geng Zhi smiled and said, "There are many companies on the market, including some giants, that imitate Momo. They only imitate the form of Momo, but not its essence. Their protection of user privacy in terms of information security is very inadequate."

As soon as Geng Zhi made this statement, the reporters started discussing it, mentioning companies that imitated Momo, such as Renren.com, Shanda, and Digu.com.

Geng Zhi paused for a moment before continuing, "Fourth, and most importantly, Momo employs a strict information collection authorization mechanism. This includes user location,..."

Camera data, communication information, etc., can only be collected after the user has given explicit authorization. Without authorization, we will not collect any data.

After stating his opinion frankly, he projected it onto the large screen:

The Momo app registration process includes pop-up windows displaying the "Privacy Policy" and "User Agreement," as well as pop-up windows requiring user authorization before accessing the camera and obtaining location data.

The audience nodded in agreement; no one had any questions. Everyone who has used the Momo app has experienced this.

Team Leader Li had never used the Momo app before. He turned to look at Deputy Director Chen, who also seemed confused, and then asked Dean Xie.

When Dean Xie gave an affirmative answer, Team Leader Li and Deputy Director Chen were quite shocked.

Because these measures are usually implemented under the strong supervision of the telecommunications administration, and companies generally do not implement them well.

The fact that a company like Mingfan Technology took the initiative to do this, and did it so thoroughly, completely overturned their understanding.

Geng Zhi paused for a moment, then said firmly, "These measures may seem to make using the Momo app a bit more complicated, and may even reduce Momo's future GG revenue by more than half. But what we care about is not GG fees, but user trust, returning the right to authorize to users, and protecting user information security."

Geng Zhi looked directly at the audience and said, "Today, I announce that Momo's privacy protection technology solution will be open-sourced to all developers free of charge. If it works well, everyone can use it. If it doesn't work well, please give us your feedback."

People in the audience started whispering among themselves, which was followed by enthusiastic applause.

As the applause subsided, Geng Zhi began to get to the real point. He turned to the next page of the PPT, and the cover of the "Personal Information Protection Law (Expert Recommendation Draft)" submitted by researcher Zhou Hua in 2005 appeared on the screen.

"In 2005, Professor Zhou Hua submitted an expert recommendation draft. Five years later, the number of internet users in my country has grown from 1.1 million to 4.2 million."

"It has increased nearly fourfold, reaching hundreds of millions."

His straightforward tone turned earnest: "Professor Zhou's draft proposal wasn't bad; it's just that the development of the times has exceeded everyone's expectations. The development of mobile internet won't wait for the law."

He looked at Team Leader Li and Deputy Director Chen, who were sitting in the center of the front row: "So I have a suggestion—businesses are willing to cooperate with legislation. But what we need is not to wait for the law to be enacted before complying with it, but to establish an industry self-regulation mechanism before the law is introduced."

As he spoke, he continued to press the laser pointer, and a line of large characters appeared on the screen: "Industry Self-Discipline Convention on the Protection of Personal Information on Mobile Internet".

"For example, we can establish a self-regulatory convention for the protection of personal information by mobile internet companies. We can turn good practices into industry standards, and industry standards into legal provisions."

He paused for a moment: "Enterprises are not the opposite of legislation; they are the most direct implementers of legislation. We want to know where the red lines are, not because we want to cross them, but because we are afraid of crossing them."

This straightforward statement seems to be made from the perspectives of the user, the company, and the legal profession at different times.

This left some of the reporters in the audience a little confused, but they still took notes and recorded the conversation.

Geng Zhi didn't give the audience time to think; he continued pressing the laser pointer, and several large keywords appeared on the screen:

Telecommunications fraud, App permission management, protection of minors, and national security.

"In the future, Momo app users will exceed 500 million in four months, and Weiju app users will approach 200 million in two and a half months. In the future, tens of thousands of apps will spring up like mushrooms after rain."

"As mobile internet continues to develop, the protection of personal information will only become more and more important. Issues such as telecom fraud and excessive permissions requested by apps will come to the fore in the future."

Looking directly at the audience, Geng Zhi solemnly stated, "Momo is willing to do two things: First, cooperate with relevant departments to establish industry standards for app permission management. Second, be a pioneer in personal information protection; our entire solution will be made public to the industry."

According to the original plan, Geng Zhi originally wanted to say a third thing: to actively participate in the research and development and application of anti-fraud technology to protect users from being defrauded.

But before taking office, he voluntarily deleted this third matter.

Geng Zhi finished by scanning the room and said, "My last startup made the dating industry more transparent, earning me the nickname 'Industry Alum' from netizens. So, for my second startup, I'll name it 'Alum Technology'."

"From the very first day of our company, Mingfan Technology, we have always said that we would live up to our name and not let down the expectations and trust of our users. Now that we have chosen the mobile Internet industry, we hope that while making money, we can also help to make the industry a little cleaner."

After speaking frankly, he bowed deeply.

There was a two-second silence in the auditorium, followed by applause—not just polite applause, but heartfelt applause. It was a long, thunderous applause.

Team Leader Li nodded repeatedly, then turned slightly to Deputy Director Chen and whispered, "This young man has a broad vision."

Deputy Director Chen nodded: "Director Li, the measures that Geng Zhi just mentioned are something that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has never seen any other company implement so thoroughly during its previous investigations. Moreover, he also took the initiative to propose open source, which is the first in the industry."

Seeing the opportunity, Principal Zhao immediately interjected, "Xiao Geng is putting into practice our Jiaotong University's motto, 'When you drink water, remember its source; love your country and honor your school,' ahead of time!"

Team Leader Li and Deputy Director Chen nodded and gave a thumbs up.

Team Leader Li picked up a pen and wrote a few more words in his notebook.

After Geng Zhi stepped down from the stage, Professor Xia Qisheng took the microphone again, jokingly saying, "Thank you for your insightful speech, Mr. Geng Zhi. But as far as I know, the Momo app has promised to be free for 100 years, and it hasn't started making money yet, has it?"

A knowing laugh rippled through the audience, followed by several shouts.

"Momo, hurry up and make money! We need you to live for a hundred years!"

"Industry alum, industry alum!"

The next step was for Professor Bu Qisheng and other experts to release the "White Paper on Personal Information Protection on Mobile Internet".

That evening was a banquet, and Team Leader Li specifically asked Geng Zhi to attend. After the banquet, he also had a private talk with Geng Zhi.

-

"Xiao Geng, your speech today was very valuable. Our Cyberspace Administration of China is currently coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to promote internet information governance, and your practices are very instructive."

"Thank you for your recognition, Team Leader Li. If needed, Mingfan Technology is willing to provide full cooperation."

Team Leader Li smiled and nodded, patting Geng Zhi on the shoulder: "If there's anything that needs feedback or coordination regarding the company's development, feel free to bring it up."

Geng Zhi's brain raced for a moment, and he deliberately bit his lip, pretending to be in a difficult position.

Seeing this, Team Leader Li's smile widened: "Xiao Geng, just say what you want."

After hesitating for a moment, Geng Zhi slowly spoke: "Team Leader Li, protecting users' personal information is really, really important. Will you push for the implementation of the Personal Information Protection Law as soon as possible?"

After a moment's thought, Team Leader Li said, "The legislation involves a wide range of issues, but I will work with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to assess the situation and do my best to coordinate with all parties to put forward a proposal and implement it as soon as possible."

"Okay, Team Leader Li! My second question is, our country will firmly support our private enterprises in developing 3G and mobile internet services in a legal, compliant, fair, and just manner, right?"

Team Leader Li nodded: "Of course."

"Even encouraging us to engage in disruptive innovation?" Geng Zhi continued to press.

"Of course we encourage it. Disruptive innovation is the true spirit of the Internet," Team Leader Li nodded.

Geng Zhi smiled and said, "Okay, Team Leader Li, I'm relieved to hear that."

Team Leader Li frowned: "Hmm, no problems?"

He laughed straightforwardly, "That's all."

Team Leader Li looked at the young man in front of him with curiosity, nodded, and didn't say anything more.

Team Leader Li did not attend the roundtable forum and closing ceremony the following day, and returned to the capital first.

Geng Zhi, the founder of Mingfan Technology, did not join in the fun.

Following the release of this white paper, the topic of user personal information security has once again sparked heated discussions, especially among experts and scholars from the legal, consumer associations, and technology sectors.

In addition to the release of the white paper itself, media outlets at all levels also extensively reported on the leaders' participation in the meeting, especially the Cyberspace Administration of China, where Director Li also serves concurrently, which came into the public eye for the first time.

In addition, what attracted the most attention was the speech by Geng Zhi, the founder of Mingfan Technology, which once again became widely circulated.

"User trust is more important than GG fees."

"First establish a usable law, and then gradually improve it."

"The development of mobile internet will not wait for the law."

"Momo's 500 million users are not just data, they are people."

That evening, news programs even reported on the forum, and clips of the candid remarks were edited and broadcast.

One netizen commented on Weibo: "Geng Zhi is not just an industry veteran, he is the conscience of the industry."

For Geng Zhi, his industry reputation and public exposure are unimportant; he's become immune to them.

What he cares about most is being able to promote the legislation of the Personal Information Protection Law and gaining the appreciation of Team Leader Li.

Time flies, the years are like a shuttle.

In the following month, Geng Zhi, the founder of Mingfan Technology, made a series of public appearances at multiple award ceremonies, winning awards left and right.

One day, while Geng Zhi was counting his trophies in the CEO's office, he received an email from Li Dongping of Arctic Capital.

[Li Dongping]: "Kik" is online and it's become a viral sensation!