Research On The Civil Public Interest Litigation System For Protection Of Citizens’ Personal Information

The advancement of network information technology has brought about rapid changes in social life,but the resulting infringement of personal information is also commonplace.Personal information is collected,analyzed and used without the knowledge of the producer.Information leakage,false advertising,and bullying in the online realm are only increasing,and moreover,as the impact of the Internet on the real space further deepens,higher demands are placed on the governance of cyberspace.And personal information infringement cases into civil litigation is also gradually increasing,but some factors restrict the litigation behavior of information subjects.The factors affecting the litigation are procedural and factual,and the virtual nature of the network makes it difficult to locate the infringing subject.The technical nature of infringement and the intangibility of information increase the difficulty of detecting and obtaining evidence.The massive form of infringement makes civil remedies impotent and affects citizens’ confidence in defending their rights,often choosing to give up on defending their rights.In 2018,the Supreme People’s Court introduced "Internet public interest litigation" for the first time in the "Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on Several Issues Concerning the Hearing of Cases in the Internet Courts",while clarifying that the Internet courts This reflects the demand for Internet public interest litigation in practice,and on April 22,2021,the Supreme People’s Procuratorate released a typical case of public interest litigation for personal information protection by procuratorial organs,which also shows the limitations of existing private interest litigation for personal information protection.By the implementation of the Personal Information Protection Law,Article 70 formally established the use of the public interest litigation system in the field of personal information protection.The limitations of the existing private litigation on personal information protection make the field of personal information protection a key area for procuratorial organs to expand the scope of public interest litigation cases.Due to the gap between legislation and practice in the current legal protection system,there are also problems such as difficulties in private interest litigation to achieve effective relief,and administrative litigation and criminal protection are not applicable to general infringement scenarios.For civil legal remedies,it is difficult to define the rights and interests of individual information,and the difference in status between individual users and information processors,mainly enterprises,and the existence of technical barriers in the field of personal information have hindered citizens’ motivation to initiate private litigation for personal information;and the exploration of personal information protection in the field of public interest litigation has limited practicality and influence due to the lack of detailed rules.Despite all the practical problems,public interest litigation still has unparalleled advantages over other protection paths for personal information,especially for personal information infringement in the network field.Therefore,this article discusses why and how public interest litigation can bring more comprehensive and effective protection to citizens’ personal information,and provides some ideas for the development of public interest litigation in the field of personal information protection.