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China Privacy

China Passes Data Protection Law (techcrunch.com) 52

China has passed a personal data protection law, state media Xinhua reports. TechCrunch: The law, called the Personal Information Protection Law (PIPL), is set to take effect on November 1. It was proposed last year -- signalling an intent by China's communist leaders to crack down on unscrupulous data collection in the commercial sphere by putting legal restrictions on user data collection. The new law requires app makers to offer users options over how their information is or isn't used, such as the ability not to be targeted for marketing purposes or to have marketing based on personal characteristics, according to Xinhua.

It also places requirements on data processors to obtain consent from individuals in order to be able to process sensitive types of data such as biometrics, medical and health data, financial information and location data. While apps that illegally process user data risk having their service suspended or terminated. Any Western companies doing business in China which involves processing citizens' personal data must grapple with the law's extraterritorial jurisdiction -- meaning foreign companies will face regulatory requirements such as the need to assign local representatives and report to supervisory agencies in China.

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China Passes Data Protection Law

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  • by Anonymous Coward
    That's rich.
    • by HiThere ( 15173 )

      It does sound humorous, but this law only applies to commercial entities. The real trick will be in how it gets enforced. I suspect this is mainly a ploy to drive things like Facebook out of China, without explicitly doing so, but we'll see (perhaps).

  • I never understood why abuse of privacy by tech was largely ignored by anyone in US. I was certain that after Ashley Madison hack and subsequent data leakage it would result in legislative changes. It is not even a secret that all of your electronics are actively listening, just yell "I want pizza" and then see how many pizza adds show up on EACH of your devices.

    THIS IS FINE
    • [J]ust yell "I want pizza" ...

      and BEER!

    • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

      by BAReFO0t ( 6240524 )

      I can tell you why.

      Because research literally showed, no offense (seriously), that Americans (especially students) were selfish sociopaths, and the complete opposite of the rest of humanity, who were social and put the group's needs over their own. With Europe becoming more and more like those US students. (And me assuming the US itself also only *became* more and more like that, given what I've heard about the rural "simple folks" parts of the US.)

      I say no offense, again, because the latter can be just as

      • by gtall ( 79522 )

        Oh yes, your personal data will be protected in China:

        Mrs. Cho: Hey, I used this app and got a notice from the government that I was naughty. I thought my data was protected.

        CCP Bureaucrat: Your data has received the utmost in protection, it has been Jinpinged.

        Mrs. Cho: Uh, thank you?

        CCP Bureaucrat: You should think nothing of it.

      • This makes me curious to know, what a perfect no-compromise unison of both American personal freedom and traditional social-first attitudes would look like.

        You won't see it because the notion is a literal contradiction in terms. Liberty is an environment in which all relations are consensual. This achieved through a government that removes the only alternative (force) from civil society; placing it under tight control so that the remaining option is peaceful coexistence, cooperation, trade ... consent.

        A group is an arbitrary collection of individuals and therefore when an individual is unable to opt out of what the group demands of them their personal freedom

    • AshleyMadison has been repeatedly "hacked" by itself... their TOS says they'll spread everything on and after a certain date. Sorry, no good privacy policy there. Any legislative attempt to block it would accidentally damage Facebook.

    • What this law practically means is that only the Chinese government is allowed to have all-encompassing surveillance of its citizens, not private companies.

      I don't know about you, but I'd be much more concerned with the government spying with the goal of controlling its populace than advertisers collecting data to try and make a buck.

      • by sinij ( 911942 )
        I think looking at the trajectory of social media giants, that they are on the way of becoming quasi-government controlling population. You disagree? Try posting any of the un-approved opinions (e.g. trans issues, COVID) and see how quickly you will get removed from digital sphere.
    • by Merk42 ( 1906718 )
      Private companies can do whatever they want* because some day I will run said company and any limitation is an affront to my freedom!



      *Because they bribe, I mean 'lobby', politicians.
  • We'll just buy it from the government.

    -- Coprorations

    • by GlennC ( 96879 )

      This is further evidence behind the idea that in China the government owns the corporations while in America the corporations own the government.

      • by robsku ( 1381635 )

        I think I might have a signature about the latter part of your sentence :o ...yeah, there it is :D

  • So even communist China, which spies on its own citizens, has a more robust data privacy law than the United States?!

    Since when have we been the "the home of the free"?

    • This law only makes it so that the CCP can punish companies that don't pay the appropriate bribes. This law also doesn't stop the CPP from collecting user data (one of the biggest anti-privacy groups in existence). It's all for show.
    • So even communist China, which spies on its own citizens, has a more robust data privacy law than the United States?!

      Or not. China seems to disapprove of competition in the "spying on everyone" game. Do note that while they want to strictly limit foreign businesses, they don't seem to be imposing any limits on their own spying on everyone.

      On a related note, why do people get excited that ads might be tailored to them? Would they rather the same number of ads, but with random ads? As for me, I learned

      • by robsku ( 1381635 )

        On a related note, why do people get excited that ads might be tailored to them? Would they rather the same number of ads, but with random ads?

        I would. I do.

        As for me, I learned many years ago that the secret to happiness is to ignore ALL ads. Amazing how little it matters if they target ads to my interests if I ignore the ads anyways....

        Because nothing bad ever happened with data collected for profiling&tracking? Yeah it matters to me. But then I don't get to see most of the ad's anyway (I have dis

    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      This isn't surprising to people who know what China is really like. Xi Jinping may be guilty of crimes against humanity but he does genuinely care about making sure China's economic success is shared by most citizens. He really does want to end poverty in China, but seeks to do it through dictatorship and excessive control.

      The control he exerts is mostly accepted because of a mixture of propaganda and the fact that most people are doing quite well out of it. People tend not to complain when they are seeing

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        I figured this would get modded down. There are some people who just don't want anyone to understand China, they want it to remain a mysterious boogieman. A bunch of taking points to rage against for a couple of minutes.

    • So even communist China, which spies on its own citizens, has a more robust data privacy law than the United States?!

      Since when have we been the "the home of the free"?

      From TFA, it sounds like it may be more restrictive/privacy focused than the EU's GDPR. Way to go China! (Yeah, I know they also do a *lot* of bad shit to their citizens.)

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • by gtall ( 79522 )

      Invite the Taliban into the union? Oh, I see, in Afghanistan under Islam, women have the right to be sold into marriage. In the West, we call it pimping. In Afghanistan, it is a right.

  • by Gravis Zero ( 934156 ) on Friday August 20, 2021 @12:02PM (#61711751)

    We all know how the CCP plays this game: you have to comply by these rules right up until they demand you harvest all the data on their behalf. They'll especially use it to keep out foreign competition.

    • As if the NSA, GCHQ or any other intelligence agency is any better
    • We all know how the CCP plays this game: you have to comply by these rules right up until they demand you harvest all the data on their behalf. They'll especially use it to keep out foreign competition.

      More to the point, the CCP realizes the intelligence value of this data, especially when you merge and cross reference it with other data. If they let foreign entities collect massive amounts of information on their citizens it could be used against them; so they pass a law that enables them to stop such collection; while they carry on with it in China and abroad.

  • Of course, none of this applies to the CCP. They do whatever the fuck they want
  • It helps no one and provides no benefits
    • by HiThere ( 15173 )

      Depending on just what you mean, that sounds like a good thing. I prefer the way the web operated before it was opened for commercial use.

      OTOH, I'm an old fogey. I won't access my bank over the web. I won't access my health provider over the web. I really limit the kinds of information I make available. A large number of people would be quite upset.

  • Much of the framework for commercial data collection also facilitates government data collection. So, is the Chinese government willing to create obstacles for its own data collection in order to benefit the privacy of its citizens? If so, that would be shocking and very welcome.

    Or is this solely intended to provide hurdles for foreign companies that wish to do business in China? Or maybe it's only intended to create regulatory hurdles (i.e., create laws to control companies) while still allowing all the

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