[stevenhuang]

That you think this is made up shows how little you know about what the Chinese netizen deals with day to day.

It is very real and I am not surprised at all something exactly like what op said has happened.

[ZeroAurora]

What if I say I AM a Chinese netizen, right here in China Mainland talking to you?

What if I say no application on my phone ever turn my camera on without my prior approval? What if I confidently say the data privacy situation in China is not in any way worse than USA?

You say I'm censored by gov. Yeah, and so do YOU. We are quite the same, so don't laugh at each other.

[stevenhuang]

If you ever allowed the app access to your camera then next time it will be able to access your camera.

No one is suggesting the app need have circumvented standard android permissions. I'm saying it is not surprising the app would try to open the camera on violation of rules.

You might be surprised to know that I do not disagree with what you said. When it comes to data privacy your information is safe from other private companies but not the government.

> You say I'm censored by gov.

When it comes to political inquiry? Without question this is more sensitive in China. My point is that in China apps are coerced to reveal information about their users to a degree where actively trying to take a picture would not be surprising, or much of an escalation. Not that it would be needed anyways since Internet usage is tied to ID.