context: With the digital economy is booming, protection of personal information has been placed on the legislative agenda. Data Security Law draft was submitted for review in July 2020, and demands for rights relief in private law are also to be regulated, consistent with the Civil Code.
Privacy and personal information protection are jointly regulated in the Civil Code as a special section in the Personality Rights Part, including preliminary regulations on type, collection, modification and deletion of personal information, Study Times explains. Personal information protection faces problems with
- legislative features
- scattered and selectively responding to advanced development of network social practices
- providing principled guidance, not specific operations
- no attribute judgment and positioning of personal information
- only responding to personal information issues in field of private law
- theoretical obstacles
- distinction between personal information and privacy
- cannot be generalised as personality rights for its wide range
- protection method: not through traditional property rights
- ease of information sharing
- ease of information use
- value goal: preventing uncertain risks to individuals and society from large-scale and efficient collection of personal information in internet information era
- application
- judgment basis: identifiability (relevant information can be analysed to identify specific individuals)
- acquisition and utilisation basis: rightsholders’ consent
- controlling social risks from the perspective of public law
- personal information protection not hindering normal flow of information and data
- Cybersecurity Law: focusing on system safe operation guarantees
- E-Commerce Law: focusing on consumer rights protection
- Data Security Law: taking into account data protection and personal information masking
- Personal Information Protection Law: focusing on preventing information from being misused and leaked
The new relief for misuse of personal information in civil law fills caps in the criminal law, so that personal information is more fully protected, Wang Yi 王轶 Renmin University vice president told Study Times.