The Balancing Of Interests In The Protection Of Personal Information And The Utilization Of Personal Information

People often confuse personal information right with right of privacy because there are many similarities between these two rights.Some people think that someone whose personal information has been violated can get help through existing privacy tort law system.However,the right of privacy is a passive right,which is not sufficient to protect human dignity.Clarifying the differences between these two rights can make us understand the importance of setting up the right of personal information.Besides,analyzing the values of personal information can make us know that the protection of personal information and the utilization of personal information are equally important.Personal information has many values,human dignity,public administration value and commercial value are the three most important values of personal information.As personal information is related to a wide range of interests,personal information law should balance these different interests.In order to balance these different interests,many countries and regions in the world have enacted personal information law and provided a number of specific rules to balance these different interests.For example,the rules relating to how to balance human dignity with the right to use personal information,the rules relating to the right of using personal information by administrative bodies and the rules relating to the right of using personal information by enterprises,etc.Knowing the specific rules of Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan and other countries will provide useful enlightenment on the formulation of personal information protection law in China in the future.According to the specific rules of Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan and other countries,this paper offers a interest-balancing principle,which should be followed by personal information protection law in China in the future.The interest-balancing principle is using personal information under the premise of protecting human dignity.Using personal information under the premise of protecting human dignity means personal information protection law should treat the protection of human dignity as the first prerequisite.The public's right to know and the right to free speech should be restricted if it will violate human dignity.Similarly,administrative organs,enterprises or other organizations should also provide full protection for human dignity if it need to use personal information.Personal information protection law should protect human dignity from two aspects: granting personal information right to people and restricting the right to using personal information.Personal information right can provide adequate protection for human dignity because it includes three kinds of rights,that is the right to be informed,the right to self-determination and the right to control.The right to be informed refers to the right to know the information relating to the collection and use of personal information.The information includes who is the information collector,why need to collect information and how to use information.The right to self-determination refers to the right to decide whether or not to provide personal information,whether or not to allow the use of personal information,and whether or not to remove personal information.The right to control refers to the right that people can request to modify error information.Restricting the right to using personal information is mainly reflected in three stages: the collection of personal information,the utilization of personal information and the transmission of personal information.Using personal information under the premise of protecting human dignity also shows that the right to using personal information should be protected.Personal information protection law should treats "using personal information under the premise of protecting human dignity” as the interest-balancing principle because the right of personality is the basic right of the individual.The exercise of any other right must not conflict with the personality right.Besides,public administration value and commercial value are the important values of personal information.Refusing to provide legal protection for the use of personal information will make it difficult to realize public management and promote business development.This paper is divided into four parts.The first part is about the connotation of personal information right and values of personal information.Clarifying the similarities and differences between personal information right and the right of privacy will make us understand why the existing privacy legal system is not adequate to protect human dignity.Analyzing the different values of personal information will make us know that why the protection of personal information and the utilization of personal information are equally important.The second part is about the introduction of interest-balancing rules in Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan and other countries.As human dignity and the right to know,human dignity and the right to using personal information by administrative bodies,human dignity and the right to using personal information by enterprises are the most obvious three groups of conflicting interests,the second part mainly introduces the interest-balancing rules relating to these three groups of conflicting interests.According to the interest-balancing rules in Hong Kong,Macao,Taiwan and other countries,the third part proposes a interest-balancing principle which should be followed by personal information law in our country and analyze the theoretical basis of the principle.The fourth part proposes the measures for the realization of the principle,which includes treating "negative consent" as the main way of " consent",strengthening the protection of sensitive personal information and minors' personal information,allowing the collection and using of personal information without individual consent in special circumstances,and removing personally-identifiable elements in personal information.