The Right To Be Forgotten In Cyberspace In Chinese Law

This thesis researches into the question of the right to be forgotten in the cyber environment.The paper begins with the historical background and the motivation of the emergence of such a right and systematically presents and analyzes the rules and regulations relating to the right to be forgotten chronologically.It then moves on to exploring more profoundly the content and supporting factors of the right to be forgotten by way of presenting and interpreting the theoretical foundation on which such a right emerges.The paper argues that the theoretical change of the three major principles,namely the principle of data minimization,the principle of data control and the principle of linguistic environment preservation,has had significant influence on the development of the right to be forgotten.Further,different approaches of theoretical justification and study of the nature of the right to be forgotten has made the existence of such a right more valuable.While making in-depth efforts to explain and understand the most representative judicial precedent of the right to be forgotten in the European Union(EU),this paper explains and interprets the General Data Protection Regulation promulgated by the EU in 2016,in an effort to understand the latest trends and changes in that regulation for the purpose of drawing lessons from that useful legislative experience for China to adopt.The paper also comparers the EU and the United States in relation to the right to be forgotten,analyzes the reasons underlying the differences of the two big entities,and offers a relatively complete account of the focal disputes on the right to be forgotten in the West,which has made the introduction of the right to be forgotten more objective and comprehensive.The promulgation of the Cybersecurity Law in 2016 and the General Principles of the Civil Law in 2017 by the Chinese government,which has provisions relating to personal information,has reflected the emphasis the government has laid on the issue of personal information.In this background this paper explores the possibility of transplanting the right to be forgotten into China through evaluating Chinese policy towards the right to be forgotten,analyzing the first right to be forgotten case in China and studying the professional regulations of relevant industries in China.In the process the paper also compares the Chinese case with the Google Spain case for the better understanding of the content of the right to be forgotten.The paper explicates and argues that as part of the personality right the right to be forgotten should naturally be considered a right within the scope of the civil law.It further argues that the right to be forgotten should be a part of the bundle of rights to personal information,based on a comparison of the right to privacy and the right to persona information and the nature of the right to be forgotten.In the part dealing with the legislative construction in China,the paper has mainly argued for the classified protection focusing on the subject of data,with the special provisions for several special subjects of data.Similarly,different duty performers of data would enjoy varying standards.With regard to the object of data,the paper stressed the importance of protecting the object of data by introducing the characteristics,functions and the cases of violation of hidden data.The right to be forgotten covers its scope of application,exceptional conditions,the implementation of the right of the subject of data,and the obligations of the data controller.Furthermore,the paper has also fully discussed the special supervision of the data controller's performance of obligation and the related remedies.