China to check personal information protection of online service providers

2017-07-27
Xinhua

BEIJING — China will take measures to increase personal information protection by reviewing the clauses of ten online service providers: WeChat, Weibo, Taobao, Jingdong, Alipay, Amap, Baidu Map, Didi, Umetrip and Ctrip.

The move will be jointly carried out by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Standardization Administration.

According to a CAC official, the move is an important step to implement the Cybersecurity Law, which took effect on June 1, banning online service providers from collecting and selling users’ personal information.

While protecting personal information, service providers should also make good use of such information to offer better service to China’s 800 million netizens and maintain their rights and interests, the official said.

The law, adopted by top legislature last November, stipulates that internet service providers cannot collect user information that is irrelevant to the services, and they should handle such information in line with laws and agreements.