The section on personality rights also details a legal framework for privacy rights and personal information protection. With the development of modern technologies like facial recognition and new technologies like deep fake, some say we are trading our privacy for services and are beoming transparent in this modern age. What does the Civil Code mean for privacy protection?
The compilation of personality rights in a separate volume is a major development and innovation in democratic legislation and the civil code. The personality rights section covers general provisions, as well as the rights to life, body, health, name, image, reputation and honor.
the development of the internet has made it easy to infringe on individual personality rights. The growth of social media has provided numerous platforms and better technological conditions to publish content that defames or insults others.
The new content in the personality rights section is aimed at preventing violations of privacy, reputation, honor, etc, so the damage caused by such infringements can be better rectified.
The draft for the final reading stipulates that no organization or individual shall uglify, blemish or forge people’s images by the use of information technology.
It defines privacy as private life as well as the private space, activities and information that a regular person “is unwilling to be made known to others”, which is also highlighted in the final draft.
It stipulates that no organization or individual shall infringe on other people’s privacy rights by means of spying, intrusion, leaks or public disclosure, including by the use of telecommunication tools.
The document also clarifies the definition of personal information and expands the scope to include “email address and whereabouts”, along with name, date of birth, identification number, biometric information, address and telephone number.
Under the code, information collectors and holders must not disclose or tamper with the personal information they store. It adds that they may only collect, use, process, transmit, provide and make public personal information when they have obtained the consent of the information owner.
It also specifies that they must explain the rules of information processing, the purpose, and the means and scope of the information, and they must not violate any laws, administrative regulations or mutual agreements.
The draft marks the further reinforcement of China’s efforts to protect personal information, following the enactment of the Cybersecurity Law in June 2017. In addition, it provides the first comprehensive set of data protection provisions in national legislation.
In recent years, data leaks from digital platforms have increasingly raised concerns about privacy, with many experts calling for a separate law to protect personal information.
In February last year, a video clip of the classic television series The Legend of the Condor Heroes-first broadcast in 1994-went viral on social media. It attracted attention because a netizen had swapped the face of Athena Chu, the original lead actress, with that of current star Yang Mi, although Yang was unaware of the move.
The netizen, who used the name “Huanlian Ge” on Bilibili, a popular video-sharing platform, used artificial intelligence technology to make the swap. Many viewers commented that the video looked so authentic that Yang actually appeared to be the star character.
However, the swap prompted doubts and controversy, as many people suggested the video could be an infringement of Yang’s image rights.
The incident also brought deepfake, or “face-changing” technology, into the spotlight, prompting concerns about the consequences of such technology being misused or abused.
In August, a new mobile app became an internet sensation shortly after hitting the market. It allowed people to upload photos of their own faces and use artificial intelligence technology to swap them with the faces of celebrities in blockbuster movies or hit TV series.
The app-called ZAO, meaning “make” in Mandarin-was quickly subject to accusations of excessive collection of personal information and possible infringement of image rights. Some people were concerned that criminals could use their image to trick facial recognition payment software and defraud them.
“In the era of the internet and high technology, the most serious challenges encountered by the law are the protection of privacy and personal information,” Wang Liming, a law professor at Renmin University, told Southern Metropolis Daily recently.
He said leaks of personal information have become a “public hazard”, making the protection of such information and the means of strengthening the obligations of information collectors, sharers and big data developers an important issue for the personality rights section of the civil code.
“Illegally hacking into someone’s emails, stealing and trading other people’s information, illegally disclosing other people’s text messages or conversation records-all these behaviors have become common, polluting the internet and infringing people’s personality rights,” he said, adding that information technology may exacerbate the damage.
“Once the information has been revealed, it can be spread worldwide in an instant and the damage can be infinite.”