Beijing, Dec. 30 -- Go to a network named Ucloo, type in your name and click "search". You will probably find your mobile or email address appearing on the screen. Angry, aren't you, but it gets even worse: detailed personal information of over 90 million people may have been unveiled by the website.

    Ucloo claims it is the biggest search engine in China as far as personal information is concerned.

    The information, however, is suspected to come from another network called 5460, a Chinese Internet alumni group, as the information on both networks is identical from format to content.

    Users of the alumni website provide detailed personal information, for the convenience of their classmates, but they don't expect it to be stolen by others.

    But according to Luo Wenxian, spokesman for the alumni website 5460, the information was illegally acquired by Ucloo.

    "So far, apart from the name of the company, we know nothing about it, there is no valid telephone number, nor any address. We will negotiate with it as soon as we can find it. From our point of view, we are also victims in this event."

    5460 was one of the earliest servers set up in China to provide chat rooms for classmates, and has over 900 million users to date.

    The website stopped public access to users' information last month. But as for the information already leaked, the spokesman said that 5460 was not to blame because the users hadn't used the security settings the website provided.

    This is far from a satisfactory answer. Many people claim as long as the network keeps its users' personal information, it should protect their privacy by all possible means. Even if the network did not leak information intentionally, it should shoulder the responsibility.

    But Xu Yi from the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, says there is no legal precedent when personal information has been leaked.

    "There is no clear definition about personal information in China, and we do not have any laws to regulate such activities."

    Therefore, before regulations appear, users have to bear in mind: Don't put too much faith in the safety of the Internet, and be extremely cautious about providing any personal information at any time.

(Source: CRIENGLISH.com)