Judicial Protection of Internet Privacy: Subject of Tort, Standard and Forms of Liability

As one of the basic human rights, and one confirmed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the right to privacy has been written into China’s General Principles of Civil Law and Tort Law. However, in judicial practice, there has been no unified standard in defining a tort of privacy, especially a tort of internet privacy. With the increasing popularity of the internet, torts of internet privacy are becoming more and more rampant and severe. Focusing on "internet hunts", a common tort of internet privacy, this paper examines how to affirm a tortious act of internet privacy, as well as forms of liability. It also expounds the practical judicial issues such as the object of prosecution trials.

On the Nature of Online Retrieval of Electronic Data

With the development of information technology,the online retrieval of remote electronic data has become an important method for investigative agencies to collect evidence.In the current normative documents,the online retrieval of electronic data is positioned as a new type of arbitrary investigative measure.However,study of its actual operation has found that the online retrieval of electronic data does not fully comply with the characteristics of arbitrary investigative measures.The root cause is its inaccurately defined nature due to analogy errors,an emphasis on the authenticity of electronic data at the cost of rights protection,insufficient effectiveness of normative documents to break through the boundaries of law,and superficial inconsistency found in the mechanical comparison with the nature of existing investigative measures causes.The nature of electronic data retrieved online should be defined according to different circumstances.The retrieval of electronic data disclosed on the Internet is an arbitrary investigative measure,and following procedural specifications should be sufficient.When investigators conceal their true identities and enter the cyberspace of the suspected crime through a registered account to extract dynamic electronic data for criminal activities,it is essentially a covert investigation in cyberspace,and they should follow the normative requirements for covert investigations.The retrieval of dynamic electronic data from private spaces is a technical investigative measure and should be implemented in accordance with the technical investigative procedures.Retrieval of remote“non-public electronic data involving privacy”is a mandatory investigative measure,and is essentially a search in the virtual space.Therefore,procedural specifications should be set in accordance with the standards of searching.

Human Rights Protection in Genome Editing

Introducing the human rights perspective into the multi-dimensional governance of human genome editing activities would help define boundaries for the behaviors of stakeholders such as the state, researchers, ethics committee members, and the public, and clarify specific practices of these subjects or entities to meet the requirements of human rights obligations. Based on the human dignity principle, humans must never be used as a means to an end in scientific research. The right to physical and mental health requires the implementation of the principles of informed consent, the primacy of life, and risk control in genome editing, as well as the proper treatment of embryos. The right to privacy corresponds to the confidentiality obligations and non-intervention obligations of relevant parties, and the protection of sensitive personal information points to the special compliance requirements regarding information processing. Differential treatment of genome-edited humans requires objective and reasonable justification, and should also meet the requirements of the proportionality principle.

Personal Data Rights in the Era of Big Data

Personal data rights in the era of big data involve coordination of the protection of civil rights and interests of natural persons on the one hand and the freedom of data companies’data activities on the other.Personal data can be the object of civil rights and as such should be regulated and protected through the system of private rights.The right of natural persons to personal data is aimed at protecting their self-determination interests in relation to those data and thus preventing the infringement of existing personal and property rights due to the illegal collection and use of personal data.Unlike real right,the right of natural persons to personal data is not an absolute right that can be positively employed;it is protected by tort law only if its infringement leads to the infringement of other civil rights.Data companies’right to personal data derives from their factual actions in legally collecting,storing and paying for these data.The data rights of data companies are a new type of property right.Their protection cannot be left solely to anti-unfair competition law;rather,they should receive systematic protection as absolute rights.