Advisory on China's New Online Information Protection Law

Check out our recent advisory detailing China’s New Online Information Protection Law.  In the advisory, Lin Zhu, Ron Cai, and Fraser Mendel explain how, on Dec. 28, 2012, the Standing Committee of China’s National People’s Congress enacted a 12-article Decision on Strengthening Online Information Protection, without public consultation and after just one reading.  The Decision was released following a recent spate of scandals resulting from online exposure of corrupt officials’ misdeeds and apparently in response to growing public concerns about lack of protection for personal privacy.  The Decision applies to only the electronic version of citizens’ personal “electronic information” and is a fairly broad outline providing guiding principles for protecting personal information online, but no implementation or enforcement details.  To learn more about the ramifications of the Decision, see the full text of the advisory here.