Research On Civil Law Protection Of Personal Information Interests

With the rapid development of information technology,modern society has entered the information society.The protection and use of personal information is of great significance,and its commercial value is becoming increasingly apparent.At the same time,the phenomenon of infringement of personal information has also increased,triggering worldwide concerns and discussions.Throughout the legislation of various countries,many countries have enacted personal information protection laws in order to provide comprehensive protection of personal information.However,the protection of personal information in China’s legislation is lagging behind.Most of the provisions in China’s legal system are scattered in various laws and regulations,and they are not a system.Article 111 of the General Principles of the Civil Law clarifies the status of personal information protected by law,but does not clarify the form and nature of personal information interests,which has aroused controversy in the academic circles.The theoretical circle has such viewpoints as “specific personality rights theory”,“property rights theory”,“frame rights theory”,“mixed rights theory”,“general personality rights theory”,which all show us the content and nature of personal information interests from a certain angle.But,they are all limited and incomplete.In fact,through an in-depth analysis of the legal scope of personal information interests,the essential attributes of rights,and the legal status of general personality rights,we can know that personal information interests should be a kind of personality legal interests,which should be included in the framework of general personality rights.In practice,there are several different modes of protection for personal information interests: name right protection mode,reputation right protection mode,privacy right protection mode and general personality right protection mode.Prior to the promulgation of the General Principles of the Civil Law,the above protection paths filled the gap in the protection of personal information legislation to a certain extent.In judicial practice,they particularly relied on the "privacy protection model".Part of the reason was due to the objective relationship between privacy rights and personal information interests,that is to say,the right of privacy and personal information interests overlap in the category of "private information".However,these protection modes also have limitations.The name right protection mode can only be applied to cases involving name right protection.The reputation right protection mode can only be applied to cases involving reputation right protection.The privacy protection mode cannot cover the protection of public personal information.While the simple general personality right protection mode is too abstract and undetailed,which is not conducive to practical operation.After the promulgation of the General Principles of the Civil Law,Article 109 formally comfirmed the legal status of general personality rights.Article 111 and the “Personality Rights Part” in the Civil Code(Draft)made a series of protections for personal information interests.The regulations clarify the content of personal information,the principles for collecting personal information,and forms of infringement.It is an innovative act in legislation.It categorizes personal information interests in the “bundle of protected personality interests by law”,and provides a more direct basis for the protection of personal information interests.