Comment: The right to exercise the right of the deceased must also have a boundary

Source: Rule of Law Daily

After the death of natural persons, its close relatives are their own legal, legitimate interests, and have the right to exercise the right to inspect the relevant personal information of the deceased.So, what are the conditions for close relatives to exercise the above rights, and is there restrictions on the means?Recently, the Beijing Internet Court concluded a case of the right to exercise the rights of the deceased's personal information together.

Li Mou engaged in the related business of Beijing in a platform during his lifetime, and was the close relative of the Four plaintiffs.The defendant Yi Beijing company is the main business of the Beijing area of the Beijing area. The defendant Er Shenzhen and the defendant San Shanghai technology company respectively are the operating entity of the platform employee and the user app.Business statistics settled the salary for Li.

In 2021, Li died of accident.Four plaintiffs tried to log in to Li's account on the employee APP to consult Li's attendance records and other personal information, but found that the account had been discontinued by a company in Shenzhen, and the relevant information could not be checked.Four plaintiffs believe that the four defendants have dealt with Li's personal information based on their own business needs. Among them, the defendant's discontinuation of Li's account in Shenzhen, which causes Li's account to not consult Li's personal information, and seriously hinders his maintenance.His legal rights and interests violate the right to request the right to personal information.Therefore, the four plaintiffs sued the four defendants to the court and requested the court to order the four defendants to provide the relevant personal information of Li, and assume the corresponding infringement liability.

Beijing Internet Court trial believes that Article 49 of the Personal Information Protection Law stipulates that if natural persons die, their close relatives can exercise the inspection, replication, replication, copying, copying, copying, copying, copying, copying, copying, copying, copying, copying, copying, replication, replication,Correction and delete the rights; except for the deceased's arranges before their lifetime.According to this, as Li's close relatives, the four plaintiffs advocate Li's personal information rights and interests to meet the following conditions: for Li's relevant personal information; in order to maintain the legal and legitimate interests of the four plaintiffs;Essence

The court believes that the network service providers should be legally, necessary, and legitimate when dealing with the personal information of the deceased. They should not allow close relatives to claim the right to the deceased's relevant personal information with any restrictions.In addition to the information that the dead personal network account contains close relatives to protect their legitimate rights and interests, there may be the privacy that the deceased is unwilling to know about others.If you directly allow close relatives to log in to the deceased account to view the relevant content, it means that close relatives may know these privacy and may obviously violate the wishes of the deceased.In addition, the account may also involve the privacy and personal information of the third party. The close relative login the dead account to see the relevant content may infringe the relevant rights of the third party, which is contrary to the specific provisions of the Personal Information Protection Law and the legislative purpose.In fact, Li's account really involves the personal information and business information of the third party outside the case. Therefore, a company as a network service provider does not allow the four plaintiffs to log in to Li directly to exercise their rights.

After investigation, a company in Shenzhen has indeed stipulated in the privacy policy of the employee APP that the contact departments and specific contact information of the right to exercise the right to the protection of personal information, and there is no situation that refuses the four plaintiffs to exercise their rights.According to this, the court believes that a company in Shenzhen has provided other reasonable ways for the four plaintiff's right to exercise their rights. The act of discontinue Li's account did not directly rule out the right to exercise the personal information of the four plaintiffs on Li's related personal information.In addition, the four defendants did not control the personal information advocated by the Four plaintiffs. The four defendants did not constitute infringement and could not provide information about Li.

In summary, the Beijing Internet Court ruled all the lawsuit requests of the Four plaintiffs in the first instance.Both parties did not appeal, and the judgment has taken effect.

In response to this case, Zhao Jingwu, an associate professor at the School of Law of Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said that the protection of the right to personal information of the deceased is not a promise of legal written text, but an important right of protection of Chinese judicial practice.There are three practical significance in this case: First, after the user's death, the personal information processor should still bear the obligation of the right to protect the personal information right of the deceased, allowing the deceased to inquire about and copy the personal information of the deceased; the other is to clarify the personal information processor.The performance of the obligation to protect the personal information of the deceased, including "providing other reasonable ways to retrieve the personal information of the deceased", "other personal information processors based on business associations no longer actually control the personal information of the deceased", etc. The third is to confirm that natural people are inquiryCopy the reasonable boundary of personal information, that is, it is necessary to comply with the "legal, necessary, and legitimate principles."

Zhao Jingwu believes that in this case, the four plaintiff requested the inquiries and replication rights by logging in to the deceased account directly.The effective path of personal information rights and personal information processors, so that the balance of interests is no longer a empty words, but a clear and operable referee logic. "