Protection For Personal Information Of Digital Content Users

Personal information of digital content users remains indispensable to digital content transaction and copyright protection in the context of digital content consumption.In an effort to maximize profit from digital content and to stay ahead of the competition in digital economy,however,digital content suppliers are now designing DRM technologies and privacy policies that will allow more comprehensive collection and use of personal information of users.This creates the potential for vastly increased collection of information about individual's intellectual exploration as well as intellectual habits and preferences.This article explores the protection for user personal information against ubiquitous privacy-violated technologies and policies so as to strike the proper balance between fueling digital economy and realizing essential fundamental valuesThis article begins,in Chapter II,by identifying the legal status of digital content users and exploring diverse ways in which certain commercial practice may threaten their personal information.As Chapter II demonstrates,in practice suppliers tend to excessively collect users'personal information by DRM,Cookies technologies and privacy-violated agreements.The fact that users of digital content prove to be consumers of digital goods as well as users of copyrighted work implies that their relationship with suppliers is governed by two sets of rules:consumer law-including personal data protection law-and copyright law.Nevertheless,neither the existing consumer law nor copyright law fail to provide meaningful protection for their personal information.Chapter III demonstrates the justifications of protecting users' personal information both from the perspective of fundamental values in intellectual consumption and from the perspective of facilitating digital economy.It argues that protecting records of individual's intellectual activities is vital to realizing free expression as well as prospering digital industry.Then,Chapter ? conducts a comparative study to examine the best practice in various countries and territoriesChapter V argues that protection for users' personal information in the context of digital content consumption should respond to the balance between preserving users'interests and prospering digital economy.Specifically,this chapter recommends four resolutions as followings.Firstly,the legal position of digital content users should be recognized in consumer law.Protection of their personal information should be integrated into the existing structure of consumer law.Secondly,"Privacy by Design"principle should be interpreted as more specific legal requirements.Thirdly,privacy policies should be privacy-friendly and meet certain transparency requirements.The standard of user authorization should be customized according to distinct types of personal information as well as different digital content,so that meaningful control to personal information can be assured.Fourthly,users should be entitled to circumvent DRM technologies for the purpose of preserving personal information.