论数字经济时代个人行踪信息的法律保护

On the Legal Protection of PersonalWhereabouts Information in the Era of the Digital Economy

个人行踪信息事关信息主体的人格利益,且兼具财产和公共双重价值,如何有效保护以促进其上承载多元利益的动态平衡,对于数字经济的健康发展至关重要。合理界定个人行踪信息是为其提供法律保护的必要前提,但我国现行法律缺乏关于行踪信息内涵的明确规定。通过对既有理论和实践经验进行研究发现,此类信息具有“技术性”“可识别性”“现实活动性”特征,应当被界定为“基于定位服务确定的、能够识别特定自然人身份并反映其线下活动情况的信息”。当前,位置服务的技术特性加剧了个人行踪信息处理中同意的虚化,个人行踪信息的强公共属性导致其基于公共利益的处理愈发缺乏边界,行踪信息保护的事前预防机制失灵。在相关司法实践中,民事诉讼途径对于行踪信息保护的作用有限,致使信息主体难以获得有效救济。结合域外经验,需要进一步优化事前预防机制,充分发挥事后救济机制的作用,同时通过技术手段加强对信息处理行为的事中控制,三者结合共同实现对行踪信息的全过程保护。具体路径上,应当完善行踪信息处理中同意规则的适用,结合“合理目的”和“必要性”界定行踪信息的合理使用情形,推动民事公益诉讼在个人行踪信息保护中的适用。

Personal whereabouts information is related to the personal interests of the information subject and has both property and public values.How to effectively protect and promote the dynamic balance of carrying diverse interests on it is crucial for the healthy development of the digital economy.Reasonable definition of personal whereabouts information is a necessary prerequisite for providing legal protection,but current laws in China lack clear provisions on the connotation of whereabouts information.Through research on existing theories and practical experience,it has been found that this type of information has the characteristics of"technical","identifiable",and"real activity",and should be defined as"information determined based on location services that can identify specific natural persons and reflect their offline activities.Currently,the technological characteristics of location services have exacerbated the virtualization of consent in the processing of personal whereabouts information.The strong public nature of personal whereabouts information has led to an increasing lack of boundaries in its processing based on public interests,and the pre prevention mechanism for whereabouts information protection has malfunctioned.In relevant judicial practice,the role of civil litigation channels in protecting whereabouts information is limited,making it difficult for information subjects to obtain effective remedies.Based on foreign experience,it is necessary to further optimize the pre prevention mechanism,fully leverage the post relief mechanism,and strengthen the control of information processing behavior through technical means.The three should work together to achieve the full process protection of whereabouts information.On the specific path,the application of the consent rule in the processing of travel information should be improved,and the reasonable use of travel information should be defined based on"reasonable purpose"and"necessity",to promote the application of civil public interest litigation in the protection of personal travel information.