Are you using the android KitKar 4.4.2 or 4.4.4 firmware in your Sony Xperia ? Then be sure to check internal storage of your device for a folder called “Baidu”. It appears that certain Android 4.4.2 or 4.4.4 firmware for Sony Xperia devices contains this folder. This folder is a part of stock build and cannot be deleted, it just keeps on reappearing.
The folder appears to be created by Sony’s “my Xperia” service each time a network connection is switched on. Unfortunately, unticking the app from Device Administrators does not solve the issue. Neither does starting the phone in Safe Mode. The only temporary workaround is to block the MyXperia app from starting by using an “adb shell” command.
Though this process, the phone is making several pings to Chinese servers. Detail information of what is being send using this process to China is not known.
The current response from Sony have provided some details regrading the Baidu Spyware. Still a lot of people are unhappy after finding this on their devices as enough details are not provided. The regular connection of this process to the servers located in China is concerning a lot of people.
The folder appears to be created by Sony’s “my Xperia” service each time a network connection is switched on. Unfortunately, unticking the app from Device Administrators does not solve the issue. Neither does starting the phone in Safe Mode. The only temporary workaround is to block the MyXperia app from starting by using an “adb shell” command.
Though this process, the phone is making several pings to Chinese servers. Detail information of what is being send using this process to China is not known.
The current response from Sony have provided some details regrading the Baidu Spyware. Still a lot of people are unhappy after finding this on their devices as enough details are not provided. The regular connection of this process to the servers located in China is concerning a lot of people.
Sony Response to Baidu spyware
Rickard – Sony Xperia Support
Magnus Hilding – Lead Developer of MyXperia at Sony MobileI’ve had some further feedback from the guys in our development team. I can confirm that Xperia phones don’t store any user data for transmission to Baidu. The MyXperia app supports both Google Cloud Messaging service and the Baidu Push Notification framework, as do many third party apps, to make sure we can support our China customers as well as those in the rest of the world. Both get automatically initialized when you first activate MyXperia. The IP activity you are seeing is just linked to Baidu’s push notification system, which is an expected behavior for this application.
Future updates of MyXperia will be optimised so the Baidu Push Notification framework is only initialized in Mainland China variants of Xperia devices. But as these services are common standards in the industry, other 3rd party applications may also include Baidu Push Notifications or other Baidu services, resulting in the Baidu folder being shared between such applications. Sony Mobile fully reassures all its customers that MyXperia uses a push notification system and does not store any user data for transmission to Baidu.
We built the app using both protocols to ensure both our Chinese and global users could enjoy MyXperia. However, we’ve designed later versions to package the service relevant to a specific region only – these updates are right around the corner, rolling out soon[Source : Hacker News , Reddit ]
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