Clubhouse reviewing data protection practices after report pointed security flaws

US audio app Clubhouse on February 13 said that it is reviewing its data protection practices after a report by the Stanford Internet Observatory said it contained security flaws that left users' data vulnerable to access by the Chinese government. Clubhouse is an invitation-only audio chat app launched less than a year ago. It has caught the attention of tech industry bigshots like Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Chinese government, which has already blocked it in the country. 

Clubhouse has encountered a censorship hiccup in China and it is looking to establish itself as the standard-bearer for digital audio. While responding to the Stanford Internet Observatory report, the app said that while it had opted not to make the app available in China, some people had found a workaround to download the app which meant that the conversations they were a part of could be transmitted via Chinese servers. In a Statement, Clubhouse said that with the help of researchers, they have identified a few areas where they can further strengthen their data protection. 

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Further, the app added that over the next 72 hours, they will be rolling out changes to add additional encryption and blocks to prevent Clubhouse from ever transmitting pings to Chinese servers. The app also plans to engage an external data security firm to review and validate the changes. 

The Stanford Internet Observatory had said that it had confirmed that Chinese tech firm Agora Inc supplied back-end infrastructure to Clubhouse and that Agora would likely have access to users’ raw audio, potentially providing access to the Chinese government. The report also added that it observed room metadata relayed to servers it believed were hosted in China and audio to servers managed by Chinese entities. However, the study said that it believed the Chinese government would not be able to access the data if the audio was stored in the United States. 

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What is Clubhouse?

Clubhouse is a platform where you can chat live through audio in realtime. It’s a bit like the chatrooms of the early days on the internet, but without the text message and the chat only happens through audio. What sets this social media app apart is its invite only feature. With this, you’ll only be able to join this app if you are invited by another member who has already joined and currently using it. 

Within a short period of time, it has gained popularity as Silicon Valley’s social hot spot. Clubhouse was founded by Paul Davison and Rohan Seth, two Bay Area entrepreneurs and alumni of Stanford University. Clubhouse is owned by the Alpha Exploration Co, the parent company of Clubhouse. In the coming section, we’ll have a look at how to get started in Clubhouse as a beginner.

(Image: AP) 

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