Close encounters with personal data misuse

The Supreme People's Procuratorate has made public, by publishing on their official website, five instances in which entities were punished for misusing personal information of residents.

Unlike the odd cases that often find mention in the media, the cases the SPP highlighted on Wednesday were more commonplace.

For example, the culprit in one of the cases had developed a smartphone app that duped users into uploading their photos so that it could "rate the user's appearance".The culprit then illegally sold the photographs in online markets. In another case, the criminals obtained personal information of newborns and their parents and sold it to companies offering massage services to new mothers, thus helping those companies find customers.

The authorities decided to make these cases public because apart from there being new parents everywhere, there are so many gullible people who can be deceived into downloading an app that "rates" appearances.

The cases tell people what constitutes personal information that should be protected from misuse. Facial information, smartphone numbers, clinics or hospitals where women deliver babies are certainly not details that should be made public.

By citing the cases, the SPP has alerted people to how even "minor "cases could be of importance to the judiciary. The website also declared that from January 2019 to this October, procuratorates nationwide had approved the arrest of 13,000 suspects for misusing personal information, and raised public litigation against 28,000 suspects for the same.

For those who worry that their personal information might be leaked or stolen, the five released cases could act as guiding documents on how the procurators protect ordinary citizens' personal information where needed, as well as how to stay alert against possible leaks.

With smartphones and tablets becoming increasingly common, the risk of personal information getting leaked is even higher. We hope the procuratorates and residents can fight the crime together to better protect personal information.

— ZHANG ZHOUXIANG, CHINA DAILY