The forthcoming "Personal Information Protection Law" prohibits big data from being "killed", cannot excessively collect information, and clarifies the responsibility and obligations of Internet companies
Say no to infringement of personal information security
On May 31, at Tangwang Central Primary School in Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province, community volunteers introduced the knowledge of preventing telecommunication fraud and protecting personal information to students.
Photo by Meng Delong (People's Vision)
"Before I took a taxi in the city, the same starting point and ending point, because the mobile phone model is different, my friend's fare is different." Ms. Li from Changsha, Hunan found it strange, and later learned that this is called big data "familiarity." .
In addition, she can't use the app without clicking "Agree", and her harassing phone calls make her unbearable.
Mobile Internet has facilitated life, but personal information has been exposed.
"These should be rectified a long time ago." Ms. Li said.
On November 1 this year, the "Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China" (hereinafter referred to as the "Personal Information Protection Law") will be officially implemented.
This special law for the protection of personal information has responded to many hot topics in the society.
For example, the explicit prohibition of big data "familiarity" behavior and strengthening the protection of sensitive personal information will open a new chapter in the protection of personal information in China.
So, how will this law protect our personal information?
In the future, can personal information really be in charge of yourself?
A law with lots of highlights
"My friend and I bought clothes of the same brand at the same time. Because my friend often buys more expensive products online, he did not receive discount information, and the price was tens of yuan higher than mine." For big data, Shanghai’s Mr. Yang told reporters about his experience.
"I planned to buy a motorcycle a few days ago. I first searched for related accessories and models on the website. After that, the e-commerce platform began to recommend related products to me, and I can see similar recommendations when I open the video app." Mr. Xu feels that he has been "kidnapped" by different apps, and wants to cancel these personalized recommendations.
College student Xiao Huan likes to surf the Internet, and her mobile phone address book is read by some apps for no apparent reason, and she constantly recommends the social accounts of her address book friends to her.
"I don't like this feeling very much. I hope that my social account will be more private. The behavior of APP goes against my personal wishes."
During the interview, the interviewees had various experiences of personal information being leaked, which also shows from the side that the protection of personal information cannot be delayed.
In the past, users were often at a loss as to how to protect personal information, and all sectors of society are also looking forward to a special law to restrict and regulate the collection and protection of personal information.
"Personal information is the'oil' of the information age. Whoever has the information will control the'buttons' of the smart age. Personal information is not only a property issue, but also involves important issues such as national society, economic security, and digital economic and social development. Coupled with the unprecedented increase in the breadth and depth of personal information collection, it is urgent to formulate a special information protection law. At the same time, internationally, the European Union and the United States have promulgated relevant laws. The formulation is also to meet the needs of cross-border flow of personal information and international cooperation and protection of personal information." said Xu Zhongyuan, Dean of the School of Law of Central South University.
In response to many hotly discussed phenomena in the society, the "Personal Information Protection Law" has responded.
For example, Article 24 directly refers to big data "familiarity": "Personal information processors who use personal information to make automated decisions should ensure the transparency of decision-making and the fairness and impartiality of the results, and must not impose transaction conditions on individuals, such as transaction prices. Unreasonable differential treatment".
In addition, the law has also strengthened the protection of sensitive information including biometrics, religious beliefs, specific identities, medical and health, financial accounts, and whereabouts, and has formulated special personal information processing rules for the information of minors under the age of 14. The clause focuses on the areas that have been problematic in the practice of personal information protection in the past.
The "Personal Information Protection Law" has fully established the people-centered concept of personal information protection and the rule of law, so that the rights of the people in the digital society are fully respected, realized and protected.
"This is the comprehensive protection rules established for the collection, storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, disclosure, and deletion of personal information following the promulgation of the Cyber Security Law, the Civil Code, and the Data Security Law." Xu Zhongyuan said Such a basic law for the protection of personal information has perfected my country's top-level design in the field of network security and data protection.
It can be said that this law has many highlights.
"Inform-agree" is the core rule
There are countless cases where APP is forced to agree to the terms, and there are many criticisms of this behavior on the Internet.
"I am planning to buy a car at home. For this reason, I downloaded the APP related to the car purchase in advance. To complete the registration, I need to collect personal phone numbers, home addresses, purchase intentions, etc.. In the next six months, I kept receiving harassing calls, and the other party clearly stated me. Home address, whether you need a car, etc." Excessive collection of personal information and information leakage made Ms. Chen from Quanzhou, Fujian unbearable.
Some users expressed doubts about the user agreement.
"When downloading the APP, in order to use the function, click "Agree" directly to the pop-up service agreement." Xiaohuan complained, "Although the agreement is clearly stated, the sentence "Your consent is required" is often added at the end. Will forcibly quit the app."
After personal information was collected before, the flow of information was often unknown, and "one-way notification" became the norm.
This phenomenon has received full attention from the Personal Information Protection Law.
"The "Personal Information Protection Law" has a total of 74 clauses, of which more than 10 clauses appear individually or at the same time with the words "inform" and "consent", accounting for about 20% of all the clauses."
Professor Liu Rui of the Department of Political Science and Law of the Central Party School (National School of Administration) told reporters that although many articles did not have the words "inform" and "agree", they reflected the spirit of the "inform-consent" rule. "This rule fully demonstrates the "individual The Basic Purpose of the Information Protection Law "to protect the rights and interests of personal information and regulate personal information processing activities"."
In the "Personal Information Protection Law", many articles have "consent" as the basic prerequisite.
For example, in the situations in which personal information can be processed as listed in Article 13, “obtaining the individual’s consent” is the first priority; Article 14 stipulates that “where personal information is processed based on the individual’s consent, the consent should be fully informed by the individual. It is voluntarily and clearly made under the premise of ";" Article 29 stipulates that "the processing of sensitive personal information shall obtain the individual's individual consent; where laws and administrative regulations provide that the processing of sensitive personal information shall obtain written consent, the provisions shall be followed."
Liu Rui stated that the determination of "inform-consent" as the basic rule of personal information processing is an inevitable requirement for individuals to have the right to know and make decisions about the processing of personal information.
"In other words, to ensure that an individual is'fully aware' of information processing, it should be clear and understandable to let the individual know who is processing his information, how the information is processed, and what impact it may have on him. , And how to request corrections, inquiries, deletion of personal information, etc."
Fu Guofeng, a lawyer from Shanghai Haihua Yongtai Law Firm, said that the core rule of "inform-consent" established by the "Personal Information Protection Law" stipulates the legal responsibility for infringement of citizens' information, and protects sensitive personal information and minors' information. Strictly, this will become a new chapter in the protection of personal information and even the defense of civil rights.
Work together to ensure that the law is implemented
When asked if she intends to defend her rights, Ms. Li, who was once "smashed" by big data, hesitated, "I have thought about it, but it takes time for a set of procedures to go down to litigate a lawsuit and collect evidence and materials." More realistically, Many Internet users do not pay enough attention to the protection of personal information rights. As long as there is no property loss involved, few people will take it seriously.
"In the past big data'killing familiarity' cases, there were often problems that were difficult to characterize, solve, and defend rights. The promulgation of the Personal Information Protection Law will change this situation. This law protects the rights of citizens. Upgrade, so that personal information protection work really has laws to follow." Fu Guofeng said.
In the past, the first major problem faced by rights protection was that there was no special law.
After the "Personal Information Protection Law" is promulgated and implemented, it is necessary to encourage Internet users to learn to defend their rights and dare to defend their rights.
In order for the whole society to understand the meaning and provisions of the law, it is necessary to strengthen legal education.
In this regard, Xu Zhongyuan suggested that personal information protection agencies should follow the requirements of "who enforces the law, who popularizes the law", enhance people's awareness of personal information rights, carry out personal information protection publicity and education, and guide and supervise personal information processors to carry out personal information protection Work.
It is worth noting that the "Personal Information Protection Law" clearly stipulates a variety of administrative penalties for infringing on citizens' personal information rights, including penalties for applications and their responsible persons; including ordering corrections, giving warnings, confiscation of illegal gains, and ordering suspension Or terminate the service, including fines.
Among them, fines for individuals range from 10,000 to 1 million yuan depending on the circumstances; fines for enterprises, if the circumstances are serious, will be fined less than 50 million yuan or less than 5% of the previous year's turnover.
"The life of the law lies in its implementation. This law stipulates a lot of detailed rules for law enforcement. Some penalties are very severe but there is a lot of room for discretion. This requires strict law enforcement as well as a fair and civilized standard." Liu Rui said.
In addition, the protection of personal information is inseparable from the support and cooperation of Internet companies and platforms.
The "Personal Information Protection Law" sets special personal information protection obligations on large Internet platforms, such as regularly publishing social responsibility reports on personal information protection and accepting social supervision.
The relevant person in charge of ByteDance said in an interview that its related APP has undergone system upgrades, providing users with more clear and personalized push-off options; in the future, they will continue to optimize product functions and continuously improve the level of user information protection.
Xu Zhongyuan said that the departments that perform personal information protection duties should guide Internet companies to establish compliance systems in all aspects of personal information collection, transmission, storage, sharing, and exit in accordance with the "Personal Information Protection Law."
In the interview, experts, scholars, interviewees and netizens all expressed their expectations for this law, hoping to fundamentally change the current chaos of excessive collection and leakage of personal information.
"The promulgation of the "Personal Information Protection Law" is a great thing, but the task of establishing a supporting system and improving the law for personal information protection in the future is still not light." Liu Rui said.
Gong Wenjing