> When Forbes provided Xiaomi with a video made by Cirlig showing how his Google search for “porn” and a visit to the site PornHub were sent to remote servers, even when in incognito mode, the company spokesperson continued to deny that the information was being recorded. “This video shows the collection of anonymous browsing data, which is one of the most common solutions adopted by internet companies to improve the overall browser product experience through analyzing non-personally identifiable information,” they added.
"We're not doing that. And everyone does that, so it's OK that we do that".
I'm reminded of something Christopher Hitchens once wrote about this sort of 'defence in depth', which I'll try to recount as best I can:
One often hears from undemocratic regimes that they aren't torturing people in the manner accused, and that if they were it wouldn't be so bad, and that if it were bad it would still be well justified. On hearing these three in combination, little doubt should remain that the accusers have it right.
> Xiaomi said, “The research claims are untrue,”
and
> When Forbes provided Xiaomi with a video made by Cirlig showing how his Google search for “porn” and a visit to the site PornHub were sent to remote servers, even when in incognito mode, the company spokesperson continued to deny that the information was being recorded. “This video shows the collection of anonymous browsing data, which is one of the most common solutions adopted by internet companies to improve the overall browser product experience through analyzing non-personally identifiable information,” they added.
"We're not doing that. And everyone does that, so it's OK that we do that".