People have complained about excessive collection of personal information for a long time, but due to cost issues, successful cases of rights protection are rare; how to give users a sense of security on future network platforms and where are the boundaries of violations——
The peace of private life is disturbed, shouldn’t it be “more real”
Our reporter Liu Shanshan Peng Bing
When downloading or using the APP, I am asked if I can authorize access to my private space; I receive an unfamiliar text message, but I know my name accurately; I often receive some unfamiliar calls to sell various products or services to myself... People because of their personal information Tucao has long been over-collected, leading to unprovoked intrusion of private life.
However, in the face of such an intrusion, how many people are willing to spend the time and energy to "be true"?
What are the laws governing privacy and personal information protection?
In the future development of online platforms, where is the boundary of collecting personal information?
"Why does a reading app ask for phone permission" "The loan has been paid off, and the online loan platform wants to cancel the account, but it is required to hold the front and back photos of the ID card" "The privacy protection clause is so long, it is too difficult to read, and it is impossible to not authorize it. Installation"...In the era of mobile Internet, people's food, clothing, housing and transportation are increasingly inseparable from various mobile apps and websites.
However, personal information is collected excessively and excessively, leaving room for some businesses to illegally use personal information for personal gain, which not only disturbs the normal life of individuals, but also lays hidden dangers for personal privacy being leaked.
People frequently complain about the excessive collection of personal information on various websites and apps. However, due to the cost of rights protection, individuals rarely choose to litigate their rights and have fewer successful cases.
The future development of the network platform, how to give users enough sense of security?
Where is the boundary for collecting personal information?
Can ordinary people enjoy the convenience brought by technology and also enjoy security at the same time?
Respect earned by "Jiner"
"[XX Workplace] Wang Yu, a former colleague labeled you as'has two brushes' and recommended 119 professional contacts to you. 36 friends including Liu, Dai and Wang are also waiting for you at XX, click the link Get the verification code, valid for 24 hours"——On March 10, 2018, after receiving such a text message, Wang Yu (pseudonym) clicked on the link provided by the text message, and the webpage was automatically redirected to the hosting and operation of a Beijing Technology Development Co., Ltd. Website.
Wang Yu was "shocked" after receiving the information. He never registered and used the website service, but was called by his name in a text message sent from the website, and a former colleague labeled himself, and many friends waited for him to join .
Wang Yu, who is "Jizhener", sued the company to the court, arguing that the website illegally obtained, stored, used and identified his personal private information, infringing on the peace of his private life.
Wang Yu asked the website to stop infringing on his privacy, permanently delete his personal information, and publish an apology.
A few days ago, the court of Haidian District in Beijing supported Wang Yu's claim.
In the court hearing, the technology company to which this website belongs believed that the plaintiff’s mobile phone number was included in the address book uploaded by his friends when using the website services, the website had no subjective intention of infringement, and the actions involved did not cause Wang Yu. damage.
Wang Yu said that he learned from friends that they did use the services of the website, but they did not actively send text messages to the plaintiff. At the same time, the expression "the former colleague labeled you" in the text messages involved is more like a positive statement on the website The tone of voice, not a conversation between friends, should be posted on the website.
In the court, the judge asked the technology company’s litigation agent whether there was evidence such as back-end data records from 2017 to 2018. The relevant person in charge stated that the time has passed for a long time and no information has been retained.
At that time, the operation method of the website should be to invite new users to comment on friends. When users choose, they will touch the sending of short messages. It is believed that the short messages received by the plaintiff should be triggered after their friends commented.
However, the company said that most applications have the behavior of obtaining mobile phone numbers, including the behavior of obtaining user address books and collecting user information, insisting that although its own website induces users to send text messages, it is not illegally obtained.
The Civil Code makes it clear that privacy must not be violated
"Most privacy cases against personal information involve obtaining or disclosing their personal information without their consent. The particularity of this case is that the defendant did not obtain information from the plaintiff himself, but through a certain amount of information collected from others. Quantitative information, calculated and judged by big data, comprehensively evaluated the range of the plaintiff’s contacts, compiled information containing the plaintiff’s and friends’ names and sent it to the plaintiff to attract its registration. The person who sent the information did not know its upload or comment Will trigger SMS.” said Wang Hongcheng, a judge of Beijing Haidian Court.
Wang Hongcheng said that because the text messages contain the names of Wang Yu and his friends, the influence on Wang Yu is far greater than the recommendation information that can generally be ignored.
The copywriting of the website deliberately caused the illusion that friends directly invited to register. Compared with the recommendation information of sending ordinary short messages with unrelated content, Wang Yu was greatly disturbed and troubled, and his rights and interests were infringed. The website should be liable for infringement.
In the end, the court verdict supported all Wang Yu's demands.
It is understood that the time for the judgment of the case was after the promulgation of the "Civil Code" and before its implementation.
Wang Hongcheng said that the "Civil Code" applicable to this case specifically sets up Chapter 6 "Privacy and Personal Information Protection" in Chapter 4 "Personality Rights", clarifying that privacy is the tranquility of a natural person's private life and the privacy that is unwilling to be known to others. Space, private activities, private information, unless otherwise provided by law or the right holder expressly agrees, no organization or individual may use telephone, text messages, instant messaging tools, e-mails, leaflets, etc. to infringe on others’ private life and process others Private information and other acts.
Wang Hongcheng told reporters that the judgment of this case referred to the above-mentioned guidelines for the judgment and reasoning. From the trial process of the case, it can be seen that the business model of this website has also undergone some positive adjustments, which is worthy of recognition.
He hoped that Internet companies would pay more attention to the scope and boundaries when collecting and using a large number of users' personal information, so as to avoid infringing on citizens' legitimate rights and interests.
Under strict control, personal privacy is expected to no longer "running naked"
So, where is the boundary of personal information collected by online platforms?
As early as November 2018, the China Consumers Association published the "100 Apps Personal Information Collection and Privacy Policy Evaluation Report", which showed that as many as 91 apps listed permissions are suspected of "crossing boundaries", that is, excessive collection of user personal information problem.
Among them, "location information", "address book information" and "mobile phone number" and other three types of personal information are the most common content for excessive collection or use.
Normally, online platforms excessively collect personal information, mainly for user analysis, to optimize and upgrade their own products, and to accurately match commercial advertisements.
However, combing through the content of relevant reports shows that in the past two years, in addition to personal information being stolen due to poor platform technology, there are also many behaviors in which corporate internal personnel sell customers' personal information for profit.
At the end of 2020, the National Internet Information Office issued the "Scope of Required Personal Information for Common Types of Mobile Internet Applications (Apps) (Draft for Solicitation of Comments)", proposing that 12 types of apps such as webcast, online audio and video, short videos, news and information do not require personal information. You can use basic functional services, and stipulate the necessary personal information scope of 38 common types of apps such as map navigation, online car-hailing, and instant messaging.
With the successive introduction of relevant regulations, apps suspected of collecting personal information in violation of regulations were processed in batches.
On February 5th, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology notified 26 apps that violated user rights that failed to rectify in time.
In the past two months, the department has conducted technical inspections on 210,000 apps in mainstream domestic app stores, put forward rectification requirements for 1067 apps that violated regulations, publicly exposed 220 apps that were not rectified, and removed 86 who refused to rectify them. App.
Liu Liehong, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that next, focusing on hot issues, technical research will be carried out on issues such as illegal voice access permissions in stages and batches to further enhance the effectiveness of thematic governance.
For companies and apps that do not rectify or rectify incompletely, have problems recurring, and engage in technological confrontation to evade inspection, more stringent measures such as direct removal, suspension of access, administrative penalties, risk warnings, and credit management should be taken to deal with them.