The future of China’s personal data protection law: challenges and prospects

Feng, Yang

doi:10.1080/10192557.2019.1646015

Cited by 35 publications

(8 citation statements)

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“…Under the explicit authorization from users, disease prevention and control institutions and medical institutions can track high-risk populations based on legally obtained information. However, China's data protection laws and regulations are mainly focused on public security concerns, while few provisions are about personal data protection [28]. Data subject rights granted by these relevant laws are much narrower than those granted by the provisions in the GDPR.…”

Section: Applicable Data Laws Countries or Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: A Technologic Tower of Babel and the Gap for International Pandemic Control

Du¹,

Raposo²,

Wang³

2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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As the world struggles with the new COVID-19 pandemic, contact tracing apps of various types have been adopted in many jurisdictions for combating the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. However, even if they are successful in containing the virus within national borders, these apps are becoming ineffective as international travel is gradually resumed. The problem rests in the plurality of apps and their inability to operate in a synchronized manner, as well as the absence of an international entity with the power to coordinate and analyze the information collected by the disparate apps. The risk of creating a useless Tower of Babel of COVID-19 contact tracing apps is very real, endangering global health. This paper analyzes legal barriers for realizing the interoperability of contact tracing apps and emphasizes the need for developing coordinated solutions to promote safe international travel and global pandemic control.

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Section: Applicable Data Laws Countries or Regionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: A Technologic Tower of Babel and the Gap for International Pandemic Control

Du¹,

Raposo²,

Wang³

2020

JMIR Mhealth Uhealth

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“…On average, EU users of Chinese mobile apps are afforded greater transparency and control with regards to how data is used, stored and disclosed compared to other jurisdictions for these four particular sets of China-based mobile apps. Under China's privacy regulation regime, which itself is full of contradictions and inconsistencies (Lee, 2018;Feng, 2019), data and privacy protection is weak for domestic Chinese users. Certain features of the app, such as the "security clearance" declaration during account deletion for domestic versions of Chinese mobile apps also shows the prioritisation of national security over the individual right to privacy as key doctrines in China's approach to data and privacy protection under the banner of internet sovereignty.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Going global: Comparing Chinese mobile applications’ data and user privacy governance at home and abroad

Jia¹,

Ruan²

2020

IPR

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We examine and compare data and privacy governance by four China-based mobile applications and their international versions: Baidu, Toutiao and its international version TopBuzz, Douyin and its international version TikTok, and WeChat. Together, these four applications represent popular Chinese apps branching into diverse overseas markets such as Europe, Brazil, North America, and Southeast Asia. We first present an overview of the ownership, functions, business models and strategies of the reviewed apps. To study the app's interface design, we employ the walkthrough method to examine privacy features during the account registration and deletion stages in app usage. Lastly, we conducted content analysis of the terms of service and privacy policies to establish the app's data collection, storage, transfer, use, and disclosure measures. Our analysis showed variations across apps and within the Chinese and international-facing versions in their data and privacy governance in app design and policies. Baidu has the most unsatisfactory data and privacy protection measures, while ByteDance's TikTok/Douyin and TopBuzz/Toutiao offer more comprehensive user protection from different jurisdictions. Moreover, this paper highlights the role of platform owners (e.g., Google and Apple) in gatekeeping mobile app privacy standards and the role of the state in imposing a data protection framework on overseas versions of China-based mobile apps.

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“…The lack of a robust privacy and data protection framework in China is well documented (e.g., Feng, 2019). In the particular context of COVID-19, this legislative deficiency, and accordingly the lack of legal scrutiny, became one of the contributing factors for the fast and large-scale adoption of the health code.…”

Section: The Role Of Law: Reflecting On Privacy and Data Protectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Pandemic Control to Data-Driven Governance: The Case of China’s Health Code

Cong

2021

Front. Polit. Sci.

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Current debates over digital contact tracing mainly focus on the tools and experiences in the West. China’s health code, while often seen as one of the earliest and most widely adopted apps since the outbreak of COVID-19, has not been studied specifically. This article provides a detailed analysis of the health code, draws comparison with the contact tracing apps developed by Google and Apple, and seeks to understand the specifications and contradictions internal to the health code’s development and deployment in China. Looking at both technical features and the mode and process of its adoption, the article argues that the health code is strictly speaking not a contact tracing tool, but a technology of population control which is integrated in traditional forms of control and facilitates the enhancement of such control. As a technology of ruling the population, rather than the virus as such, the health code also reveals crucial problems in the modernization and informatization of the state governance and public administration. A critique on the health code solely informed by privacy and personal data protection runs the risk of being co-opted by the government and technology companies deploying such tools to expand their surveillance and regulatory power.

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The future of China’s personal data protection law: challenges and prospects

Cited by 35 publications

References 0 publications

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: A Technologic Tower of Babel and the Gap for International Pandemic Control

COVID-19 Contact Tracing Apps: A Technologic Tower of Babel and the Gap for International Pandemic Control

Going global: Comparing Chinese mobile applications’ data and user privacy governance at home and abroad

From Pandemic Control to Data-Driven Governance: The Case of China’s Health Code

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