重解个人信息的本质特征:算法识别性

Reinterpreting the Essential Characteristics of Personal Information:Algorithmic Identifiability

个人信息的可识别定性引发了个人信息权与传统人格权的区分难题,司法裁判中既存在以传统人格权保护个人信息,也存在以个人信息权裁判传统人格权纠纷的现象。可识别不宜作为个人信息的本质特征,因为其脱离了个人信息制度产生的数字社会基础,忽视了数字社会与传统社会中的识别差异,混淆了个人信息在各部门法中的不同内涵。算法识别性才是个人信息的本质特征,个人信息权的客体范围、法律属性、权利内容等均产生于算法识别性。正是根据个人信息之算法识别性,方能把传统人格权与个人信息权案件至少在民法领域中区分开来。当信息处理方式在事实层面难以查明时,仍应归入传统人格权侵权案件;当算法技术程度不同时,需根据个案衡量能否适用个人信息权。尽管文章是以个人信息权与传统人格权的区分作为例证来揭示该定性的理论价值和实践意义,但个人信息算法识别性其实关涉数字空间中可计算个人信息所有法律制度的设计。

The identifiable character of personal information has given rise to the difficult problem of distinguishing between personal information rights and traditional personality rights.Judicial decisions have been made both to protect personal informa⁃tion with traditional personality rights and to adjudicate disputes over traditional personality rights with personal information rights.Identifiability is not appropriate as an essential characteristic of personal information because it detracts from the foundations of the digital society from which the personal information system emerged,ignores the differences in identification between the digital society and the traditional society,and confuses the different connotations of personal information in the various sectoral laws.Algorithmic identification is the essential characteristic of personal information,and the scope of the object,legal properties and content of the right to personal information all arise from algorithmic identification.It is on the basis of the algorith⁃mic identification of personal data that a distinction can be made between traditional personality rights and cases of personal data rights,at least in the field of civil law.When information processing is difficult to ascertain at a factual level,it should still be classified as a traditional personality rights infringement case;when the degree of algorithmic technology varies,the applicability of the right to personal information needs to be weighed on a case-by-case basis.Although the paper uses the distinction between the right to personal information and traditional personality rights as an example to reveal the theoretical value and practical significance of this characterization,the algorithmic identifiability of personal information is in fact about the design of all legal systems for countable personal information in the digital space.