Internet black and gray production: how to keep up with changes in legal regulations
【Dharma Eye View】
At the National Two Sessions that closed not long ago, the "Two Highs" work report pointed to cyber crimes. The Supreme Law work report specifically pointed out that a number of cyber crimes on the black and gray industrial chain must be severely punished, and cyberspace must not be allowed to become an extra-legal place.
The "3·15" party revealed that on platforms such as Zhaopin Recruitment and 51job Worry, job applicants' resumes can be easily downloaded in large quantities and sold in batches on other online channels, again causing people to worry about online black and gray products. .
In the era of the Internet economy, illegal and criminal activities on the Internet are also changing with each passing day.
It is becoming more and more common to scan orders and speculate letters, network naval forces scan posts to control comments, illegally obtain and buy personal information, and businesses are "worn with wool", etc., and gradually develop into a black and gray industry.
"'Black property' refers to cyber crimes that have direct contact with national laws, while'gray property' is a controversial behavior that wanders on the edge of the law, and is often a controversial act that provides assistance to'black property'." Xue Jun, a professor at Peking University Law School It is pointed out that the existence of the Internet black and gray industry not only infringes on the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and other related subjects, but also pollutes the Internet ecology, which in turn causes serious harm to social order, and becomes one of the problems that urgently need to be addressed.
The trick of scooping up bad money and driving out good money
Tianjin citizen Ms. Hao is an expert in online shopping, but the recent failures in online shopping have made her "doubt about life".
A considerable number of products with high rankings and beautiful data on e-commerce platforms have high quality and high prices.
She heard that there is an order-swiping industry that specializes in data collection for certain businesses.
In recent years, the phenomenon of scrambled letters and letters has become more and more common, leading to the continuous deterioration of the healthy Internet economic ecology, forming the effect of "bad money driving out good money" and becoming a black and gray industrial chain.
The reporter understands that most of the current e-commerce platforms use transaction volume as the criterion and basis for displaying the ranking of merchants on the platform. The size of the transaction volume directly affects whether it can be seen by consumers for the first time.
To a certain extent, the transaction volume also reflects the recognition of the merchant in the market.
Xue Jun said that on the Internet, merchants pursue transaction volume in order to obtain a relatively high ranking on the e-commerce platform. This is actually a credit mechanism that occurs spontaneously in the market. When the services and products provided by a merchant are recognized by consumers It can be directly reflected in the increase in transaction volume.
In this context, a black and gray product that used data fraud to scramble orders and letters appeared.
The emergence of credit-swiping services has enabled businesses to obtain considerable transaction numbers at a lower cost in a short period of time, and thereby obtain higher search rankings. Service providers have also received remuneration, but at the expense of the public interest.
"Through data fraud'shortcuts' can quickly make profits. This is undoubtedly encouraging data fraud and forming an effect of'bad money driving out good money', which has an extremely bad impact on the Internet business environment." Xue Jun think.
It is imperative to curb the scrambled letters and eradicate this black and gray product.
Xue Jun believes that, based on the cross-regional and cross-domain characteristics of the Internet, while cracking down on the black and gray products in accordance with current laws and regulations, a set of comprehensive governance measures should also be explored and formulated at the national level.
The first is to continue to improve e-commerce laws and regulations concerning the conduct of order fraud and credit speculation, to clarify the nature of the conduct of order fraud and credit speculation, to do a good job in the convergence of civil law, administrative law, criminal law and other regulations related to the conduct of order fraud and credit speculation, and to clarify the responsibilities of law enforcement entities. The boundary, from the legal level, forms a tendency to encircle the black and gray products.
In addition, “e-commerce platforms should improve and strengthen the anti-cheating and anti-swiping mechanisms, and promptly follow up and investigate merchants with abnormal transaction volume, and cooperate with relevant regulatory authorities to take off-shelf and close stores when necessary for illegal merchants. Measures." Xue Jun suggested that Internet e-commerce platforms should actively explore more scientific evaluation mechanisms and avoid using transaction volume as the main basis for search rankings.
"Network naval forces" must not act as "network thugs"
On March 4, China Judgment Documents Network published "Cai Kunmiao Provides Intrusion and Illegal Control of Computer Information System Programs and Tools" First-instance Criminal Judgment. Star Aid App developer Cai Kunmiao provided intrusion and illegal control of computer information system programs, Tool was sentenced to five years in prison and fined 100,000 yuan.
Once this news was sent out, it caused widespread concern.
In June 2019, the incident of "a Weibo repost of a celebrity surnamed Cai exceeded 100 million" occurred.
According to statistics, there were 337 million Weibo users at the time. A Weibo surnamed Cai had a repost volume of over 100 million, which means that one out of every three Weibo users reposted this content.
The incident brought the black and gray product of the cyber navy into public view again.
In an era when traffic is king, the network naval forces create false data, post and delete posts for a fee. While making a lot of money, they scan posts and control comments, create beautiful fake data, guide public opinion, and lead to ordinary individuals in the public. The overwhelming voice of the Internet makes it more and more unbearable for the majority of netizens.
At present, the more typical cyber naval behavior pattern includes many links. Liu Canhua, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, introduced that in the commissioning stage, employers seek professional "Internet PR companies", hoping to achieve a certain goal through the hype of "Navy". Such illegal interests, such as increasing the visibility of certain people, the number of clicks on their advertisements, and damaging the reputation of others.
In the stage of organization and planning, the "Internet Public Relations Company" accepts the employer's entrustment to plan, organize and implement Internet hype, and organize a large number of Internet writers to form a "water army".
Enter the implementation stage, post and follow up everywhere according to the employer’s requirements, provide employers with brand promotion, word-of-mouth maintenance services, or delete unfavorable posts, and use the powerful publicity effect of the Internet to create a sensational " news".
The behavior of online naval forces to scan posts and control comments may constitute a criminal offense.
Liu Jinrui, a researcher at the Institute of Rule of Law of the Chinese Law Society, pointed out that if the cyber navy uses intrusion into the information system of others as a means of action, it may commit the crime of illegal intrusion into the computer information system; if it disrupts the normal market order, the practitioner may constitute the crime of illegal business operations; If the act of accusation and evaluation results in the degrading of the personality of others and the lowering of social evaluation, it may constitute a crime of insult or slander.
In response to the existence of the black and gray product of the network navy, the Cyberspace Administration of China has issued a number of regulations in recent years, such as the Regulations on the Ecological Governance of Network Information Content, the Regulations on the Management of Internet User Public Account Information Services, and the Regulations on the Management of Internet Post Comment Services. Etc., etc. have more detailed regulations on the behavior of online naval forces in controlling and reviewing posts.
For example, post comment service providers and their practitioners are prohibited from making illegal profits, cannot selectively delete or recommend post comments for illegitimate gains or based on wrong value orientation, and cannot use software, hiring commercial institutions and personnel to distribute information. .
However, it should also be noted that after the emergence of new forms of illegal crimes, the current legal regulations still have room for further improvement.
In Liu Jinrui’s view, the criteria for identifying illegal crimes of cyber naval forces need to be further clarified. The connection between civil liability, administrative liability and criminal liability should be considered. Only by forming a rigorous and seamless legal and rule system can the cybercrime be effectively combated. The army has nowhere to hide.
At the same time, the relevant regulatory departments and judicial organs should also improve their professional capabilities, invest more professionals and technologies, and solve the problems of identifying illegal and criminal acts and effectively combating them.
"Wool" merchants do not try to be on the verge of breaking the law
In recent years, it is not uncommon for e-commerce platforms to be "sucked up".
In 2019, Pinduoduo's platform was "sucked" by the "Wool Party" to tens of millions.
It is understood that a black and gray production group used the loophole to illegally obtain tens of millions of coupons, and Pinduoduo responded that the coupons had not been published online.
Under normal circumstances, personal behavior is not enough to cause a bad influence on the platform, but the black and gray production gangs use illegal means to steal data, forge identities, and maliciously attack, turning "wool wool" into a business, which is extremely harmful to the Internet platform. .
The reporter's investigation and learned that, at the beginning, "wool wool" refers to the act of collecting preferential information from various online stores in order to enjoy preferential benefits.
These preferential information were delivered through various instant messaging groups in the early days, and the group owner was the "Sheep Head" who was responsible for publishing various preferential information.
The groups participating in the "Wool" activity are called the "Wool Party."
The behavior of "sweeping the wool" to follow the trend is called "getting on the car" within the "Wool Party".
Xue Jun said that the "wool party" registered a large number of false accounts, snatched coupons from merchants, and even invaded online store information platforms to obtain coupons, and then cashed out coupons through various means to obtain illegal benefits.
Due to the existence of the "wool party", the normal business activities of the merchants were affected, the interests were lost, and it also had a bad impact on the business environment.
Regarding the act of registering a large number of false accounts to rob coupons and realise them, Xue Jun believes that this may constitute unjust enrichment. According to the Civil Code, the unjust enrichment should be returned; at the same time, because the "wool party" obtained through fake accounts The existence of coupons to obtain benefits by deception may constitute the crime of fraud.
In addition, if criminals obtain coupons by entering the information system of an online store, they are suspected of trespassing into the computer information system, and illegally obtaining a large amount of coupons may also constitute a crime of theft.
Due to the low cost of illegal crimes produced by the "Wool Party", the phenomenon of "sweeping wool" by businesses has been repeatedly banned.
"Internet platforms should continuously strengthen data protection." Xue Jun believes that technical support should be continuously strengthened to improve the ability to identify false registered accounts; on the other hand, based on the characteristics of the Internet, relevant state agencies should conduct special rectification and comprehensive management. Form a long-term rectification mechanism.
In addition, it is necessary to strengthen legal education in the whole society to make the public realize the legal risks of participating in the act of "sweeping wool" and avoid becoming a "wool party."
The legal red line of illegal acquisition and sale of personal information cannot be crossed
Xiao Li, a graduate of a university in Beijing, received a job offer. He felt that the job offer was good, so he filled in various related information including his ID number and address on the website provided by the recruiting company.
There was no follow-up to the recruitment. Instead, various calls for selling houses, loans, and financial management began to bombard indiscriminately, and he realized that his information was likely to be betrayed.
The reporter learned that criminals obtain citizens' personal identity information through various channels, such as recruitment websites, various apps, etc. After the citizens' personal information is obtained by the background, they are sold at a price of a few cents per piece.
Article 111 of the Civil Code stipulates that the personal information of natural persons is protected by law.
Any organization or individual who needs to obtain the personal information of others shall obtain and ensure the security of the information in accordance with the law, and shall not illegally collect, use, process or transmit the personal information of others, and shall not illegally trade, provide or disclose the personal information of others.
Article 44 of the Cyber Security Law stipulates that no individual or organization may steal or obtain personal information in other illegal ways, or illegally sell or illegally provide personal information to others.
Although there are relevant laws restricting this, due to the low cost of violations, the illegal acquisition and sale of personal information has been repeatedly prohibited.
And at present, the illegal acquisition and trading of personal information black and gray products gradually show a trend of clear division of labor, industrialization, professionalization, and linking.
Regardless of whether it is to citizens, or to society and the country, the illegal acquisition and sale of personal information is a threat that should not be underestimated.
Liu Canhua analyzed that, on the one hand, after obtaining the victim's personal information, the criminals carried out targeted fraud, extortion, theft and other serious illegal and criminal activities, which had a serious impact on citizens' daily lives.
On the other hand, jeopardizing the interests of society and the country, borrowing other people’s information, or embezzling others’ identities to brush traffic, money laundering and other illegal and criminal activities endanger the public interests of society and have an impact on normal social order.
In order to prevent and crack down on crimes of infringing on citizens’ personal information, Article 253 of the Criminal Law of my country stipulates that, in violation of relevant state regulations, selling or providing citizens’ personal information to others, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and either a fine or a fine ; Where the circumstances are particularly serious, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall be fined.
Although there are provisions in the criminal law as a powerful means of combat, more efforts are still needed to regulate this black and gray product.
Liu Canhua suggested that, on the one hand, it is necessary to continue to improve relevant laws and regulations on personal information protection, provide a legal basis for law enforcement by relevant departments, and regulate Internet-related practitioners with more detailed rules.
On the other hand, relevant law enforcement agencies must continue to pay attention to the latest trends in black and gray production, remove illegal and illegal apps, and rectify malicious crawlers and virus software, so as not to give criminals a respite.
At the same time, Internet enterprise platforms must abide by the law and self-discipline, effectively prevent "inside ghosts" from selling information, improve the rules for internal personnel to view and download customer information through technology and corporate regulations, and establish a mechanism for keeping traces throughout the process.
(Reporter Wang Jinhu)