Law ought to better protect people's privacy

UNAUTHORIZED video clips of 5,793 newly born babies in Hefei, East China's Anhui province, appeared in an online forum recently. The videos also contained personal information of the parents. China urgently needs a law to protect people's privacy, said Beijing News on Tuesday. Excerpts:

Su Jin, a resident in Hefei, found a video shot by the hospital where his son was born was available on a commercial website.

The video clips directly name the babies' parents, and include information such as the babies' gender, birth dates and the admission dates of their mothers. The video answered a question that puzzled Su, that he repetitively receives advertising phone calls from baby-related industries, from photographers to rehabilitation massage masters for new mothers.

Reporters found his son is one of 5,793 babies whose videos were uploaded on the internet, and all the videos had been leaked from the Anhui Provincial Maternal and Child Care Center in Hefei. The care center said hackers broke into its database and stole these videos, and it had already reported the case to the cyber security administration authority. But the public still suggest there are insiders involved in stealing the videos and selling them to commercial websites.

The underground market for personal information has prospered along with the spread of the internet and related businesses. The personal information dealers are unscrupulous because there is not yet a law to arm the judicial and security authorities to prohibit the lucrative business. China should not wait any longer to pass a law on personal information protection to safeguard people's privacy.