Editor’s note: On Jan. 13, we published a story about an unsecured Megvii server that allegedly contained data from millions of public surveillance cameras in China. We believe that data privacy is an extremely important issue and one that, especially with Chinese companies, doesn’t get enough attention. As we dug into this story, it changed from one about data privacy into something different. We realized that the topic was so technical that it would be difficult for our small, independent newsroom to reach conclusions quickly, so we decided to give what we know now its own treatment while we continue to work on a fuller story.
Our mission is to inform the world about China through the lens of technology. We do that by providing neutral and accurate coverage about the companies and people that are changing the landscape of the country’s economy and society. The original story contained ambiguities that we felt did not do our mission justice.
We believe there is an important conversation about China and its companies that doesn’t happen often enough. In order to push that conversation forward, we’ve decided to replace the original text of this story with the text you are reading now. We will be writing more about this in the following weeks. Look out for our members-only weekly newsletter where we will explore this story in more detail. Sign up now so you don’t miss it.