Author
Ms Xingjie Huang
Organisation/Institution
City University of Hong Kong, School of Law
Country
HONG KONG (SAR OF CHINA)
Panel
Information Technology Law
Title
Is personal information in public spaces private?
Abstract
When the term “privacy” is mentioned, individuals tend to associate it with its opposite, “publicity”. A prevalent perception is that privacy becomes nonexistent once personal information is disclosed in public spaces. However, this viewpoint is gradually being challenged by the advent of sophisticated technological tools. With the aid of technology, people may analyze previously disclosed personal information in unexpected manners, leading to the continuous disclosure of personal information in public spaces. The data subject typically relinquishes their rights to privacy for the information that has already been disclosed in public spaces. Conversely, for the inferred information that emerges from subsequent analysis, the data subject did not anticipate external disclosure, and the extent to which they maintain privacy remains a subject of ongoing debate. This article delves into the realm of informational privacy, which seeks to ascertain whether personal information in public spaces is private. If so, it endeavours to determine the extent to which private personal information should be safeguarded in China. The article commences by establishing the nature of privacy. Subsequently, it explores the relationship between informational privacy and personal information, elucidating the contextual nature of personal information and its profound impact on privacy. Furthermore, this article argues that informational privacy in public spaces is a bundle of dynamic and variable information relationships. It underscores the varying degrees of accessibility in public spaces and the diverse forms of personal information that may be disclosed. Finally, this article examines the legal safeguard provided to private personal information within public spaces in China. Compared with data/privacy protection law and common law protection approaches, it investigates the breach of informational privacy in public spaces within the Chinese context, considering illegal activities that transcend offline and online realms and the application of the proportionality test in balancing conflicting interests.
Biography
I am a PhD candidate at City University of Hong Kong. I obtained a Master of Law with a specialization in Intellectual Property Law from University College London, graduating with merit. My undergraduate studies were completed at the South China University of Technology, where I earned my Bachelor of Law degree with a GPA of 3.78/4. My research interests lie primarily in the area of privacy/data protection, and I have actively engaged in various research projects and activities. Notably, I presented an article at the European China Law Studies Association (ECLS) Annual Conference in 2024, where I discussed the privacy protection of data subjects' facial recognition information in China. Additionally, I am currently involved in a book project on Automated Vehicles: Chinese Ethical and Legal Perspectives, where I work as a research assistant in retrieving and collating resources and proofreading and polishing articles. In terms of professional experience, I worked as a lawyer at ETR Law Firm in Guangzhou from 2019 to 2022. My responsibilities included handling civil & commercial litigation and arbitration cases. I successfully achieved claims resolution for private lending disputes and out-of-court settlements for individual clients. Furthermore, I assisted in providing legal counsel and services to several companies. In addition to my academic and professional pursuits, I actively engage in extracurricular activities. I was a member of the 2017 Seoul Study Trip organized by the Asian Law Students Association (ALSA), which allowed me to explore different legal systems and cultural perspectives.
