Law needs to prevent tech giants from taking liberties with users

On Wednesday night  , the leading domestic mobile payment service provider, Alipay released to users their annual billing records, yet a sentence in smaller font, which authorizes it to analyze users' data for other use, was found in its electronic agreement with the default choice being "I agree". China E-Commerce Research Center, a Hangzhou-based independent think tank, comments:

Alipay has already apologized for what it said was a "silly" mistake. And it was a silly mistake because it will do huge damage to the reputation of the company.

At the beginning of 2017, the number of Alipay users nationwide had already reached 450 million, and the payment app is being increasingly used on more occasions. Losing the trust of users could put an end to that.

Being a big company is not a sufficient reason for Alipay to disrespect the legal rights of its users.

Some analysts also suggest Alipay may have broken the law with its action. There are two ways of judging whether that is the case or not. First, the text must appear at a position and in a form noticeable to the reader. In the case of Alipay, they have put the key sentence in a smaller font, which is obviously not proper.

Second, the text of the agreement must be legal. Many say the relevant sentence in Alipay's agreement is not, but there is no legal definition that clearly states what is or is not permissible.

Therefore, we call for the legislators to pay more attention to these issues and amend the laws to protect people's rights.