Xiaomi, the Chinese technological and smartphone company, which claimed to sell 2.5 crore handsets since last three years, has finally opened up on the issue of servers and data protection.
After several Chinese companies came under the scanner of Indian Government after accusations related to data theft loomed large, the question of protecting data of Indians was hotly debated and discussed.
This is certainly a welcome move by Xiaomi, thereby showcasing their transparency and dedication towards following Indian laws.
However, as per Xiaomi, the only limiting factor here is Amazon Web Services or AWS, where their data is stored. As AWS have recently opened their data centers in India, it may be a limiting factor.
Xiaomi: No Problem In Moving Servers To India
Manu Kumar Jain, the high profile VP of Xiaomi and Managing Director of India operations gave an interview, in which he has openly stated that they are willing to transfer their servers to India, and they have no objections to this demand by Indian Govt.
However, as per Manu, the biggest problem is AWS, where their data is stored.
He said, “All our servers are sitting on AWS (Amazon Web Services) in Singapore and US. If AWS moves to India, we would be happy to work with them.”, adding, “We moved and thought it was pretty good. But if someone, AWS or equivalent, were to set up servers here (in India), we would be happy to work with them,”
Mentioning the limiting factor of AWS, they have said, “We last evaluated this about 2-3 years ago when we were moving our servers (from China), at that time there was no significant presence (of AWS) and it was much more difficult to have it here,”
In 2015, Indian Government specifically ordered all social media giants to set up their servers in India or perish.
Whereas in 2014, it was Xiaomi reported that Xiaomi is secretly sending data to Chinese servers. Earlier this year, Xiaomi had also apologized for unauthorized data access.
Xiaomi: Data Is Protected and Secured
Rubbishing claims of data stored within Xiaomi’s servers as unsafe, Manu explicitly said that data is encrypted, and super safe.
He said that the data is `encrypted to the highest degree’ , and it cannot be retrieved, even if the handset is stolen.
Interestingly, in 2015, Xiaomi had established a customer data center in India, to address customer problems. This was done after Air Force issued a warning against Xiaomi’s handsets.
Earlier, Oppo and Vivo too had offered to move their servers to India.
We will keep you updated as we receive more information..