The Protection of Personally
Identifiable Information (In Chinese and PDF format only)
DeLiang Liu, pp.389-406)
Personally identifiable information (PII) can be defined as any piece of information that can, directly or indirectly and unrelated to the public interest, be used to identify a natural person. Property rights associated with PII include the right to assign the commercial value of the PII. These are relatively new rights which have emerged only as a result of the rise of commercial exploitation of PII. Currently, laws safeguard personality rights, but not necessarily property rights attaching to PII. However, drawing on philosophical thinking, particularly Hegel’s views on private property and the value of individual freedom, there is obviously an interest in protecting rights in PII. Unfortunately, existing legal tradition and mechanisms, particularly those in the USA, are inadequate and do not provide coherent mechanisms, particularly as compared to those in Europe. In future, the protection of rights in PII should be based on the value of PII. Thus, if the PII holds value relating to the subject’s personality and property interests, then both personality rights and property rights should be protected in association with the PII. Conversely, if the PII contains value relating only to the subject’s property interest, then only property rights should be granted and enforceable. Further, in this information age, every single example of PII has a potential commercial value, making it important for property rights to be defended.