Local official calls for more protection of personal data

Personal data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic needs better protection, said Liu Yan, vice director of Minhang District and a Shanghai deputy to the National People's Congress.

During the pandemic, organizations and businesses which are not clearly authorized to collect people's data did so anyway, and sometimes they forced people to leave personal information without legal base, Liu said.

In some cases, people are required to leave their names, ID numbers, mobile phone numbers and home addresses on paper, and it is unclear how that data is protected, she said.

Additionally, because the health codes introduced by Alibaba and Tencent on Alipay and WeChat have been used by most Chinese residents, the protection and use of that data need to be legalized, according to Liu.

She suggested the national personal data protection law under consideration address all of these issues, as well as require organizations that collect people's data nationwide to submit periodic reports to authorities in charge of personal data protection.