The Conflict And Balance Between The Right To Privacy And The Right To Know In Government Information Disclosure

Article 23 of the Regulations on the Disclosure of Government Information(hereinafter referred to as the “Regulations”)stipulates “personal privacy” as a public exception,with the aim of resolving the conflict between the right to know and the right to privacy.The conditions for the administrative subject to refuse to disclose personal information are: the information applied for disclosure is personal privacy,the non-disclosure of the information does not have a significant impact on the public interest,and the third party does not agree to disclose it after consultation with legal procedures.These three conditions can be met to legally and reasonably resolve the conflict between the right to know and the right to privacy.However,in practice,there are problems such as the lack of guarantees for the consultation process,the difficulty in defining “personal privacy” and measuring interests,and the inefficiency in discretion of the administrative subject.This paper addressed the following four aspects in order to solve these problems.First of all,the administrative body should guarantee the legal implementation of the third-party opinion procedure and protect the citizen's right to self-determination.Article 23 of the Regulations stipulates that when the administrative organ considers that the government information applied for disclosure involves personal privacy and may damage the legitimate rights or interests of a third party after disclosure,the administrative organ shall solicit the opinions of the third party in writing.At present,the program still exists because there are many third parties and the method of consultation is not legal and cannot be guaranteed.In addition,results of the response indicate that almost no one agreed to disclose their personal privacy,which would further cause doubts about setting up the program.However,this article is introduced in the first place to protect citizens' right to self-determination of information which belongs to the basic rights of citizens,and even if the implementation of the procedure requires a certain cost,it should be implemented.Secondly,distinguish between “personal privacy” and “personal information” and improve the system of measuring interests.It can be seen from the enumeration of relevant legal norms that personal privacy emphasizes the non-disclosure of information,while personal information emphasizes the directivity of information to the subject.Personalprivacy has a cross-cutting relationship with personal information.When personal privacy is disclosed,it is no longer a privacy,but personal information.If personal information is non-public,it can also be personal privacy.In addition,the definition of “public interest” is meaningless,but the public interest represented by the right to know can be strictly explained in the case,making the measurement of interest more specific.There are two main points of interest measurement: first,it is necessary to list the contents of relevant public interests as much as possible.Second,the public interest protected by the right to know is significantly more important than the privacy rights.In the judicial trial,the judge can also first determine the legitimacy of the administrative subject according to the principle of proportionality.If the purpose of the administrative subject not to disclose information is not justified,then it is no longer necessary to measure the interest.Again,bind administrative discretion.In reality,many administrative subjects refuse to disclose government information on the grounds that there is personal privacy in the information that is applied for disclosure.However,in fact,the relevant information should be disclosed on its own initiative,or it can be disclosed after the treatment.This problem is caused by the administrative subject's use or abuse of discretion.It should constrain administrative discretion by setting more elaborate information division rules,mandatory interest measurement rules and special provisions for special subjects.Finally,explore the special subject and the corresponding personal privacy information.It can be found from the case that the staff of the public institutions and the staff of the public utilities can be regarded as special subjects,and they are corresponding to the personal privacy information of the qualifications which include the academic qualifications and professional level information of the staff and hiring information,etc.There are three elements in this model.Firstly,the subject must be directly related to the public interest.Secondly,there must be relevant legal norms to make clear requirements for his qualifications.Thirdly,in the process of measuring interests,the public should be involved.The benefits are explained.