The Jurisprudential Basis and System Improvement of Procuratorial Public Interest Litigation for Personal Information Protection

Abstract

In the face of massive collection and use of personal information in the era of big data, the prevalent cognitive and structural problems have undermined the foundation of personal information self-control. The characteristics and operational mechanisms of big data have limited the utility of such tools (principles) as notice-consent, purpose limitation, and data minimization. Efforts should be made to shift the paradigm from individual control to social protection. The procuratorial public interest litigation is an important mechanism to practice the social control paradigm. The publicity of personal information is the legitimate basis for procuratorial public interest litigation to intervene in personal information protection. Although notable results have been achieved in terms of procuratorial public interest litigation for personal information protection so far, there is still large room for improvement in terms of case type, scope of claims, litigation rules, and ownership of compensation. Although Article 70 of the Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China has responded to the existing problems, the provisions are only roughly generalized ones and can hardly offer specific guidance to judicial practice. In future judicial practice, risk prevention should be treated as the main function of the system. Efforts should be made to find more sources of case clues, simplify antecedent procedures, actively explore preventive public interest litigation, and give full play to the exemplary and leading role of procuratorial public interest litigation. Efforts should also be made to further detail causes of action, avoid simplifying “infringement” into “harm,” implement the reversion of burden of proof, and establish sound supporting systems for punitive damages and compensation management.

Keywords

personal information / notice-consent / social protection of personal information / procuratorial public interest litigation (PPIL)

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2024 Higher Education Press