Protection of personal data in China: Legislation in the digital age

Abstract

In the development of China’s Internet industry and digital economy, great importance is attached to the protection of personal data and seriously protects the legitimate rights and interests of citizens’ personal data. Generally speaking, with the development of technology and industry, China’s personal data protection has gone from “indirect protection” to “direct protection” and then to “comprehensive protection”. In the early years of China’s Internet industry, the indirect protection of personal data was mainly achieved through the protection of the “rights to privacy” of citizens. Since the Internet industry of the People’s Republic of China has entered a stage of rapid development, the state began to directly protect personal data in accordance with the provisions of the Chapter “Network Information Security” established in the “Cyber Security Law” of 2016, establishes several principles for the collection and use of personal data, protection requirements information security. Until November 1, 2021, the “Personal Data Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China” (PPD) was adopted to comprehensively protect personal data, reflecting the ideology of development focused on bringing the people to the center, meeting the new needs and aspirations of the people in the new era, and also proposing the creation international digital legal order “Chinese version”. The PPD further expands the scope of the object of personal data protection, comprehensively establishes the rights of individuals to process data, strengthens the obligations to protect personal data processors, creates strict rules for the protection of sensitive personal data and regulates the processing of personal data by public authorities, as well as improving the means of legal protection of personal data, all of which are important points in the legislation. The law incorporates advanced foreign experience, while emphasizing Chinese wisdom, the spirit of the times, and practicality in accordance with the reality of China.