论个人信息保护公益诉讼惩罚性赔偿

Research on the Application of Punitive Damages in Public Interest Litigation on Personal Information Protection

“河北省保定市人民检察院诉李某侵害公民个人信息民事公益诉讼案”引起了学界对个人信息领域中能否适用惩罚性赔偿的讨论。从二者的目的、性质、功能等法理基础上分析,应准许原告在公益诉讼中提出惩罚性赔偿的请求,从角色定位、适用关系、适用限制三个层面出发,能够明确惩罚性赔偿的适用路径。在此基础之上,可将侵权行为人主观故意、信息处理行为具有不法性、造成严重结果以及结果与行为具有因果关系作为构成要件,并在设置惩罚性赔偿最低额度的基础之上,将“特定基数”和“乘数倍率”作为计算惩罚性赔偿金的基本模式。由于惩罚性赔偿金属于特殊的民事责任,是故可以合理地认定惩罚性赔偿金归属并适用于社会不特定受害群众。同时,若私益诉讼后于公益诉讼,则没有主张惩罚性赔偿的正当理由。

The case of The People’s Procuratorate of Baoding City,Hebei Province v.Li Mou for Infringement of Citizens’Personal Information has sparked discussions in the academic community on whether punitive compensation can be applied in the field of personal information.Based on the analysis of their purpose,nature and function,the plaintiff should be allowed to request punitive damages in public interest litigation.The application path of punitive damages can be clearly defined from three aspects:role positioning,application relationship and application restriction.On this basis,the subjective intent of the infringer,the illegality of the information processing behavior,the serious consequences caused,and the causal relationship between the results and the behavior are taken as the constitutive elements,and on the basis of setting the minimum amount of punitive damages,the“specific base”and“multiplier ratio”are taken as the basic model for calculating punitive damages.Because punitive damages belong to special civil liability,it is reasonable to think that punitive damages belong to and apply to non-specific victims in society.At the same time,if private interest litigation is followed by public interest litigation,there is no legitimate reason to claim punitive damages.