The Ministry of Public Security has released the Draft for Soliciting Opinions on the Administrative Provisions on the Supervision and Inspection of Internet Security by Public Security Organs, stating that theft of personal information will be subject to administrative punishment even if it does not constitute a crime.
The biggest change with the Draft for Soliciting Opinions is the instant punishment for personal information leakage. In the past, the legal provisions set a relatively high threshold for punishment on the theft of personal information, thus many information leakages could not be punished in time because they did not meet the criteria for measurement of penalty according to the criminal law.
The Draft for Soliciting Opinions stipulates that as long as someone steals or obtains, sells, or provides personal information to others in an illegal manner, the violator must be punished even if the act itself does not constitute a crime.
Public security organs shall confiscate unlawful income and give fines from twice to 10 times as much as illegal gains. If there is no illegal income, a fine of less than one million yuan shall be imposed.
The Draft for Soliciting Opinions fills this legal gap through administrative penalties. Judging from the severity of the penalties, it is of great significance to impose penalties on such acts that do not constitute a crime but infringes upon citizens’ information.
The Draft for Soliciting Opinions also pointed out that public security agencies should conduct spot checks on cyber providers whose Internet access has been granted less than one year based on specific needs such as the need for cyber security protection and hidden risks of cyber security risks. In addition, cyber operators will be punished if they do not require users to provide real identity information or provide services to users who do not register true identity information.
(Source:Jiangsu International Channel)
