Research On Personal Information Processing Mechanism Under Public Health Emergencies

In response to the outbreak of the "New Crown Epidemic" in 2020,the government,from the central to the local level,conducted indiscriminate tracking and testing,and collected and analyzed a large amount of citizens’ personal information in order to protect the public’s right to health and life,and thus effectively prevent and control the spread of diseases.Although the collection of citizens’ personal information plays an important and fundamental role in this response to the new crown epidemic and achieving dynamic clearance at the social level,the government’s handling of citizens’ personal information is prone to cause a conflict between public interest and individual rights.In this paper,based on the collation,summary and analysis of some local governments’ behaviors of collecting and releasing citizens’ personal information at different times,we examine the problems and deepen the causes of the government’s handling of citizens’ personal information during public health emergencies in China.We hope to propose a standardized path for the effective and reasonable handling of personal information by the government in the context of such public health emergencies,with a view to providing useful references for the government to balance public interests and the rights and interests of personal information in similar situations.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,the full text is divided into four main parts.The first part defines the concepts of public health emergencies and personal information.First,it clarifies the specific meanings of both in legal texts and government regulatory documents;second,it discusses the important links between personal information and public health emergencies.The second part of the paper summarizes the details of the personal information involved in the local government’s notification of the epidemic in some cities at different times during the New Crown epidemic(the epidemic period referred to in this paper is "early 2020 to December 2022").The key to the rapid implementation of the epidemic prevention and control measures taken by the government and the good social effects achieved by the government is the massive collection and large-scale use of citizens’ personal information by the government.By horizontally comparing different government notifications of epidemic in the same period and vertically comparing the changes in government notifications of epidemic in the same region in different periods,this paper summarizes the shortcomings in the government’s activities in handling citizens’ personal information involving epidemic.The third part is to analyze the problems and causes of the government’s handling of personal information in the prevention and control measures of the New Crown epidemic.On the one hand,at the beginning of the New Crown outbreak,the system that existed in the country at that time had fewer provisions for the collection and use of personal information during the outbreak.On the other hand,although the Personal Information Protection Law,which officially came into effect in early November 2021,makes special provisions on the handling of citizens’ personal information by state agencies,the content of the law is too broad,and government departments and related authorized units and organizations lack supporting guidance rules.In summary,the legal system related to the protection of personal information during the epidemic was not sound enough and the policy documents lacked foresight,which was manifested in the excessive collection of information by too many subjects,excessive collection of personal information,lack of uniform publication standards in different regions,excessive disclosure of citizens’ personal information,and the lack of a strong The fourth part of the report is on the existing legal system in China.The fourth part is to refine and improve the mechanism for handling personal information in public health emergencies on the basis of the existing legal system in China.When handling personal information,the government should first comply with the principles of personal information protection,such as the principle of proportionality,the principle of fit for purpose,and the principle of minimum necessity,and strictly implement the principle of clarity of purpose.Secondly,specific and clear rules should be set for both the standard of personal information collection and the publication mechanism to provide the government with regulatory guidelines when handling personal information.Again,in order to prevent the leakage of citizens’ personal information and protect the security of their personal information,information processors should be urged to effectively fulfill their obligations to safeguard information security and do a good job of deleting the relevant information.Finally,in order to balance the relationship between public interests and personal interests and prevent government agencies from neglecting the protection of personal interests when handling personal information,a sound monitoring mechanism should be established to supervise and regulate the series of government actions.