Privacy Protection in China's Cyberspace

It is generally accepted that the modern concept of personal privacy originated in western industrialized countries, which found that rapid economic growth and the resulting social change made legal protection for personal rights necessary.

The right of privacy under US law, for example, broadly includes: (1) the right to restrict public access to personal information (e.g., public disclosure of private facts is prohibited); (2) the right to be left alone (e.g., intrusion upon a person's solitude or seclusion is prohibited); (3) the right of protection of one's identity (e.g., appropriation of a person's name or likeness is prohibited); and (4) the right to private communications (e.g., intercepting and divulging private communications is prohibited).

By contrast, the "right of privacy" is not a distinct right specifically found in any existing PRC laws or regulations. Nor is the scope of protection of privacy expressly defined or readily ascertainable under current PRC law, despite the fact that the term "privacy" (yinsi) is frequently referenced in different PRC laws, regulations and judicial interpretations. The question here is whether or not the various rights encompassed by the "right of privacy" as described above in the US case are recognized and protected under PRC law. Further, how is the right of privacy in the online environment covered under China's Internet-related rules?