Messaging app Line to transfer all user data to Japan for security

LINE just exposed the private information of 86M of users.

the law enforcement won't even investigate.

i doubt that changing the location of the servers will change anything.

Line...Im still upset Japan even chose Line for it's default messaging app. Terrible clunky Web integration, poor smartwatch integration, mediocre “stickers” and now so much bloat! Games, coupons, timeline, news, pay, gift, manga, music, Kakeibo. I want a secure, fast, clean messenger. Even WhatsApp from the evil empire looks awesome in comparison. Telegram would have been good too.

Every Sites and Apps are making policy with one word 'security' but it's actually stalking everything you do.

If you have a small house at good location and good pension/savings, you don't need these app things. Just chill and relax.

Telegram is way better

Is moving from China, the worlds most advanced tech country...to a country where the head of cyber security can’t use a computer, a really good idea?

It's too late. The Chinese Communist Party already got what it was looking for.

Thanks to LINE (which I don't use anyways).

Get it out of China! Good idea!

It is too late! China already has Japan's data! Luckily, I never use it.

Tai Hen Ne for everyone else!

Only transfering all the user data to Japan for security, or actually securing the data in here? Just sayin'..

Security in IT in Japan is poor and ridiculous. Boy I have so many stories which many people would not believe. Beginning with no VPN while connecting remotely to one Japanese bank, just RDP it on a standard port...

Keep in mind that LINE is still Korean. You can't just magically demand South Korea to hand over the data to Japan without concessions.

The president of messaging app provider Line Corp said Tuesday that data of its users in Japan, now being stored in South Korea

Japanese nationalists are having a heart attack after realizing this sad fact.

How can barbaric Koreans own Japanese data? They asked themselves.

Is moving from China, the worlds most advanced tech country...to a country where the head of cyber security can’t use a computer, a really good idea?

Even if your assumption that China is the world's most tech advance country was true, which is not, the answer is yes. It is a good idea. China is ruled by an authoritarian regime, a dictatorship and the government has access to any data they might want for their purposes. And the whole world has seen their purposes in how they treat all neighbouring countries including their own people in the example of Xinjiang. So yes, it's a great idea to have our data in any other country, including the ones that their cyber security minister can't use a computer.

Very poor management and slow.

The whole point of social media is the sharing of data - photos, messages, posts - so that data has to be accessible by users on the other side of borders. Unless LINE plan on become a 'Japanese only' social media service.

If data is properly encrypted, you can store it anywhere.

Nationalist whining about this is just fearmongering, buttering people up with a view to ending your internet access at national borders.

So, to keep all your data safe and private from dangerous foreigners, do you want Japan to cut off the internet at its borders - no data in, no data out?

Big tech values your data because it believes that it can add value to advertising services by mining large data sources using machine learning. But in the last two decades I have seen no improvement in the quality of adverts I have been shown online, and have not clicked on a single one. The value of this data to GAFA (and the 'danger' of someone in China or SK knowing what you are surfing for) is hugely overrated.

The next generation of technology will involve distributed software and networks. Users will be able to control who can see their data, and will not need to share it with the producers of apps and websites. In turn, app and website providers will not face the problem of managing and protecting huge amounts of data, and will not have to censor users' posts and messages, as those posts will never be accessible to them.

Continued... The distributed model doesn't rule out customised advertising but offers a better way of doing it. Users can associate their advertising preferences with their online identity, allowing tech service providers to direct adverts to them that are likely to be of more interest to them. This would work better than the data harvesting/ML combo that most tech companies currently use. Users can pick from their preferences, or the lifestyle they aspire to, and build their own 'adfile'. To obtain the use of an ad-supported service, you allow a company to access your adfile.

@Septim Dynasty

You can't just magically demand South Korea to hand over the data to Japan without concessions.

No concession necessary, as long as Korean intelligence agencies have access to data.

It was known that Korean intelligence agencies had full access to LINE's data since 2013 or something like that.

@Samit Basu NO. they don't.

Get it out of China! Good idea!

Please re-read the article. Line stored user data in South Korea. Line's user data in South Korea was accessed by Chinese technicians operating in China without approval. Line didn't store data in China. It doesn't operate there. The Chinese simply stole the data from their data storage in South Korea. It is not clear to me how moving the data to Japan will defeat future Chinese efforts to access this data if they so desire.