Users of popular Japanese-language input applications made by Chinese internet giant Baidu are being warned that Baidu's apps are secretly logging their keystrokes and collecting their personal information and sending it to servers in China, after an alert was issued by Japan's National Information Security Center, according to new reports from NHK and the Yomiuri Shimbun.

Baidu's IME, a Japanese-language editor and input system for computers, and Baidu's Simeji, a Japanese-language input app for smartphones and tablets, are both siphoning users' personal information, IP addresses and information about other software on their computers and devices without asking for the user's consent, according to the reports.

The Japanese government on Thursday ordered all of its agencies as well as research institutes and 12 universities to suspend use of Baidu IME. Baidu IME converts hiragana phonetic script into kanji characters and katakana phonetic script. It was released in 2009 and can be downloaded for free. People can unwittingly download Baidu IME when using some of Baidu's other products, and some Japanese personal computers ship with the software already installed.

Baidu IME was used by more than 2 million people in Japan as of January 2012.

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