Study On Personal Information Protection In Civil Law

Personal information,which was previously used for citizen identification,has now become a valuable market resource in the context of the big data era.In the big data era,the rise of information controllers and processors has led to dramatic increase of violations such as inappropriate collection,process and use of personal information.In practice,disclosure and illegal use of personal information have already imposed severe threats against the life and property safety of citizens.Personal information is mainly protected under the name of the right of personality in the existing civil legal structure,and there is no authentic right of personal information in terms of basic laws,let alone a structural framework of the rights of personal information.According to Article 111 of the General Principles of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China,which was implemented on October 1^st,2017,only some principles related to the personal information protection of natural persons are provided,and there are no unified relevant laws.The personal information protection framework in traditional civil laws now finds it difficult to deal with the challenges emerging in the big data era.In such context,it is necessary for us to start from the perspectives of rights system,contract regulations and infringement relief regulations.This paper aims to construct a framework of personal information civil protection that not only guarantees the rights of information subjects,but also promotes economic development in the big data era.The main body of this paper consists of four parts in addition to the introduction.The specific contents are as follows:The first part is based on the concept of personal information,where the civil rights nature of personal information is analyzed,and four features of personal information in the context of the big data era have been concluded.Besides,the necessity of civil laws stipulating the protection of personal information in China has been drawn as a conclusion by analyzing the social values brought by the civil protection of personal information and the challenges faced by personal information protection.The second part starts with the status quo of personal information civil protection in China,and meanwhile unveils the existing issues in China.It mainly provides conclusions of the provisions related to personal information in the General Civil Law Principles as well as the protection from the Tort Liability Law and Contract Law.The manifestations of the behavioral and infringement behaviors of information controllers as in how they collect the personal information of information subjects are elaborated.Through the status quo analysis,the existing issues in personal information civil protection are obtained,including the lack of the concept of personal information right in China,the simplicity of protection mode in the Tort Liability Law,and the ambiguity of format clause protective regulation in contracts.The third part provides a comparative analysis of how personal information is protected overseas.The decentralized legislative mode and the privacy protection basis of personal information in the United States and the concentrated legislative mode and the personal information general personality right protection in Germany are highlighted.In addition,the relevant provisions of personal information infringement liabilities and contracts are concluded from other personal information protection laws.The fourth part proposes countermeasures for the personal information civil protection in China,and some suggestions regarding a better civil protection of personal information are put forward in allusion to the issues in civil protection and relevant provisions in the personal information protection laws in other countries and regions,including:clarifying the nature of the civil rights of personal information,confirming the range and object of personal information rights,and clarifying the content of personal information rights.As for the tort liability law,it is necessary to determine the doctrine of liability fixation of tort liability,constituent elements,liability manners,and reasons for tort liability.As for the contract law,it is necessary to construct special civil rules regarding the use of personal information permission through the contractual behaviors of information controllers who collect personal information,and improve the role of format clauses in contracts in personal information use permissions.