A Research On The Legal Issues Of Personal Information Protection In Public Health Emergencies

In 2020,the country entered an emergency epidemic prevention and countermeasures after the national outbreak of novel coronary pneumonia.The government took strict control measures against the epidemic and played a crucial role in the prevention and control of the epidemic through the collection,use and disclosure of personal information for big data analysis.In the process of epidemic prevention and control,the protection of personal information in public health emergencies has attracted widespread attention from the society.Although the current New Crown epidemic has come to an end for the time being,it is still relevant to summarize and reflect on the personal information protection issues arising from the prevention and control of the New Crown epidemic for the future occurrence of similar public health emergencies.2021 saw the official introduction and implementation of the Personal Information Protection Law.It marked the initial establishment of the legal system for personal information protection in China.However,in the epidemic prevention and control,there are still a large number of personal information infringement cases in practice due to the limitation that the legal framework of personal information protection in China is not yet perfect.The 2022 Government Work Report emphasizes that we should continue to "strengthen network security,data security and personal information protection." Therefore,based on the need to respond to public health emergencies,it is necessary to study and analyze the legal protection of personal information in public health emergencies,taking the prevention and control of COVID-19 epidemic as an example.The article conducts analysis and research based on the ideas of raising,analyzing,and solving problems,mainly including three parts:The first part introduces the current status of legislation on personal information in the context of public health emergencies in China and the real-life dilemma.We search and compare the database of laws and regulations in China to sort out the current legal provisions related to personal information protection in China,and point out that there are problems such as excessive collection,improper use,unauthorized disclosure,and illegal trading in the handling of personal information in the context of public health emergencies.The second part analyzes issues related to the protection of personal information in public health emergencies from multiple perspectives.Specifically,it seeks to explore the balance between the rights and interests of personal information,public health safety,and the public’s right to know;it considers the scope of protection of personal information in public health emergencies in terms of basic personal information,personal health information,and personal trip information;and it analyzes the causes of inadequate protection of personal information in public health emergencies in five aspects: collection,use,storage,disclosure,and post-epidemic.The third part addresses the main problems of personal information protection in public health emergencies,combines the reasons for insufficient protection of personal information,and improves the legal protection path of personal information from five aspects: collection,use,storage,disclosure and post-epidemic destruction.In the process of collection,the subjects of personal information collection in public health emergencies should be clarified and the scope of personal information collection should be limited.In the process of use,the rules of use of personal information in public health emergencies should be disclosed,the purpose of use should be strictly limited,and the mechanism of de-identified use should be established.In the storage process,establish a desensitization mechanism,set up a personal information protection agency,and improve industry self-regulation standards.During the disclosure process,anonymization is carried out,subject responsibility is established and a social monitoring system is set up.After the epidemic is effectively controlled,the personal information collected during the epidemic is promptly destroyed.