The number of Internet users in China reached 632 million in June, with 46.9 percent of the population covered by the Web, and smartphones are the most frequently used tool to access the Internet, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. A smartphone may be the most convenient medium to reach the "virtual world", but by using it a netizen exposes his/her personal information to theft.

Personal data, including text messages, contact lists and photographs, can be stolen from iPhones through techniques that Apple hadn't revealed to users earlier. Apple acknowledged this fact earlier this week, but before that Jonathan Zdziarski, a researcher, demonstrated at a conference in the US how the company "collected" a surprisingly large volume of data from users for what it now says was analytical work meant to help engineers.

This is bad news for iPhone users in China, particularly government officials, because their personal data are vulnerable to theft and spying. This has prompted many people, including Fang Xingdong, founder of blogchina.com and an IT columnist, to urge officials to use domestic-brand smartphones instead of iPhones to protect their personal information. Fang has even said that important officials should be prohibited from using iPhones.