Pre-chip
“search engine optimization” is a technique for upgrading the ranking of search results by analysing the ranking patterns of search engines, learning how search engines search, accessing internet pages, identifying particular keywords, etc。
The aim of the website search engine optimization is to use search engine work patterns to optimize web content, ensure that it is consistent with user browsing habits and, without prejudice to user experience, to upgrade the ranking of its search engine, thereby increasing the number of site visits and ultimately enhancing its promotional or marketing capacity。
The techniques for optimizing the search engine consist mainly of the two main categories of “black hat” “white hat”: the former is reflected in “swindle” search engines and visitors, for example, by hiding keywords, and the latter in formal technologies and modes, such as enrichment of the website and optimization of its structure。
Guangzhou internet court heard a personal information violation dispute over the illegal capture of personal information to “optimise” the ranking of the search engine
Base case
Zhang is a practising lawyer at a law firm in guangdong, and his personal profile is publicly available on a 100-degree note and on his law firm's web page, where data access and access are not provided。
The a website is dominated by legal information dissemination services, and most of its content is legal advice. Web site a has photo links, which users can jump to website b, which provides online legal services, including legal advice, access to lawyers, etc。
Zhang has claimed that, without consent, websites a, b, etc. Were set up as search keywords, that “inducing” a 100-degree search of counsel's users to access websites a, b, thereby obtaining undue benefits, violating the right to a name, the right to personal information, requesting an order to remove a person's information from websites a, b, and assuming liability for damages, damages, etc。
A. B. Website operators argue that, firstly, zhang is not a well-known lawyer and that the website does not have sufficient motivation to place his name as a search keyword. The information on page a on zhang's lawyer cannot be linked to zhang himself and does not belong to zhang. Zhang has not substantiated the existence of actual damage and there is no basis for a claim of $30,000 for economic loss. Iv. Pages on website a are published by the users themselves, and website a operators do not process personal information on zhang. V. The violation complained of has been removed from website a. On this basis, the request was to dismiss all of zhang's claims in accordance with the law。
Focus of debate
I. Whether the presence of a name, practice, cell phone number on page a constitutes an infringement of the right to a name, the right to personal information;
2. Whether b website operators violate the right to name, personal information and interests。
Outcome of the judgement
The guangzhou internet court ruled that:
1. Within ten days of the date of the legal effect of the judgement, the operator of site a apologizes to zhang in writing for the illegal handling of a person's information, the content of which has to be examined by the court
2. The operator of site a will pay a compensation of $5,000 (including reasonable expenses) within 10 days of the date of the judgement
3. Rejects zhang's other claims。
The second instance of the guangzhou intermediate people's court in guangdong province rejected the appeal of the operator of website a and upheld the sentence。
The above judgement has entered into force。
Decision
(i) a website page displaying a relevant personal information as a result of personal data processing by a website operators
While zhang's claim is the result of the improper processing of data on a person's information by website operator a, site a operators claim to be self-edited by website a users。
Nature of services provided from website a look
Web site a mainly provides web-based technical services such as information dissemination, retrieval, storage, etc. To the users of the platform, with content related to legal advice, legal services and static web pages。
In general, such web-based service providers do not volunteer to edit or modify the content published by users, but in order to gain the competitive advantage of the website, site operators focus in particular on whether the content of the site is abundant, whether the structure of the site is clear, whether the page capacity of the site is reasonable and primarily aimed at increasing the user experience. However, there is a large number of re-titled articles, unclear synonyms, multiplicity of content, misalignment of text, lack of correspondence, and, in the same pages, the placement of multiple article links has led to an unreasonable and inadequate layout of the page and does not require user browsing habits。
In addition, website a provides outreach services to website b, and users who visit site a click on the top right corner of the page to read “i have questions to consult” and can jump directly to the consulting page on site b. As a result, the a website's operational strategy is not primarily to enhance the user experience of the site, but rather to introduce technical tools that can be easily cited by search engines in order to raise the site's natural ranking in the search engine and thus attract more users。
From the data sources of the case-related fields
In the context of the court's identification of the display of information about a practice on various places on website a and the fact that the articles in the case field concerned information about “criminal lawyers”, it can be concluded that the content of the field in question was derived mainly from the capture of a self-publicized data sheet and that the website a was based on targeted data collection on the subject of articles published on the website and was automatically added to web articles with a view to being captured by a search engine。
From publication and user registration look
The a website operator's rebuttal fields are uploaded by the platform's users themselves, but they submit only a sample of registered pages with some users, do not submit the true identity information of the users and do not justify the occurrence of identical fields in different articles published by different users at different times. Moreover, there is no logical correlation between the fields in most articles dealing with the practice of a lawyer in zhang and the context, which is clearly different from the communication habits of ordinary internet users. Therefore, the court rejected the defence that the relevant case-related fields of the a website operator were issued by network users。
Search rankings from 100 degrees look
Starting with the second page of the 100-degree search for a “lawyer” result, the page displays multiple a web links, and the first page of the 100-degree search for a mobile phone number “139***9” displays the article on the a web page and ranks forward. As a result, site a has increased the visibility of site a by optimising the search engine by using the zhangi data fields, making it easier for users to access and view site a when searching 100 degrees of zhangi's content. As a result, it can be concluded that there is a fact that the “search engine optimization” is carried out using the relevant data fields of zhang。
(ii) violations of zhang's right to information
The determination of whether a person's right to information has been violated by the operator of site a is subject to consideration as to whether or not he has committed an act of processing information about a person and whether it is in compliance with the relevant provisions of the personal information protection act of the people's republic of china concerning the rules governing the processing of personal information。
1. A website operator acts to process information about a person
Article 4 of the law of the people's republic of china on the protection of personal information provides that: “personal information is recorded electronically or otherwise in all kinds of information relating to a natural person who has been identified or can be identified, excluding anonymously processed information. The processing of personal information includes the collection, storage, use, processing, transmission, provision, disclosure, deletion, etc. Of personal information.”
First, the website a shows a name, occupation, length of practice, geographical location of practice, and “directorship of law firm”, information that clearly belongs to zhang's personal information without having to combine other content. Second, although personal information about a given person is not provided on its own initiative, the definition of “collective” by reference to article 3. 5 of the code of personal information security for information security technologies (gb/t35273-2020) of the national standard provides that collection is an act of control over the acquisition of personal information, including indirect access to personal information through sharing, transfer, collection of open information, etc. Thus, the capture of a person's data from a public website by website a is also a collection of information on a person. The use of a person's information on site a for the purpose of operating a website, the presentation of the information in the section of the web page for the 100-degree search engine, and the deletion of the reference to "zhang " from website a during the proceedings in this case are acts of processing someone's information。
2. A website operator handles information about a person illegally
In accordance with article 13 (1) (f) of the law of the people's republic of china on the protection of personal information, a person who processes personal information, in accordance with the provisions of the law on the protection of personal information, shall, within reasonable limits, deal with personal information that is made public by the person himself or herself or that has been legally made public, without the need to obtain personal consent. While the law gives the person who processes personal information the right to deal reasonably with the disclosure of personal information, the fact that a natural person discloses his or her personal information does not imply a waiver of the right to all personal information and that the person who processes the information that is made public should be lawful and reasonable. The determination of “reasonable scope” should be viewed in terms of the purpose, content and means of the information treatment act。
First, the purpose of web site a is to increase the ranking of the site in the 100-degree search engine, so as to increase the number of users of site a, which is essentially an operational activity of the site, and the commercial use of personal information. Second, according to the information that a handles, a web site selects only some of the fields in a professional presentation and inserts them in paragraphs that are not related to the title of the web article, the context, or even in other lawyer's presentation articles that are far from its field of practice. This does not help either the positive promotion of a relevant information or the optimization of the user experience of the web page. Finally, the means of processing information on site a, similar to the “black hat” technology in the “search engine optimization”, defrauds the search engine and thus increases its exposure, so that it is not justified。
In conclusion, the handling of a person's information on website a, in cases where the said law does not require the consent of the subject of the information, constitutes a violation of the law dealing with a person's information。
(iii) violations of the right to a name
Article 11,112 of the civil code of the people's republic of china provides that “natural persons shall have the right to a name and the right to decide, use, change or permit another person to use their name in accordance with the law, provided that it is not contrary to public decency”. Article 11,14 provides that: “no organization or individual may infringe on the right of another person to name or name by interference, embezzlement, forgery, etc.”. Under the law, liability for violation of the right to a name is subject to impairment of the right to a name of a natural person. Although a name is displayed on website a, it does not prevent zhang from exercising his right to decide, use, change or license another person to use his or her name, and there is no evidence that the information on a name displayed on site a is incorrect and has adverse consequences for confusion with others or for public misperception. As a result, zhang's claim that the a website operator violated his right to a name lacks evidence that zhang's claim was rejected by the court。
(iv) on whether the operator of site b has violated the right to name, personal information and interests
Website b provides users with legal advice, access to a lawyer, etc., but no relevant information on zhang is available. While the increased number of a site visits can, to some extent, bring economic benefits to b sites, case evidence only proves that a site provides outreach services to b sites and that b website operators process zhang's personal information. As a result, there was insufficient evidence in the case to show that the b website had acted against the right to a name and personal information。
(v) civil liability of website a operators
1. With regard to cessation of violations
A website has violated the rights and interests of a person by processing their personal information without the consent of a person, and a person has the right to request the operator of a website to remove the personal information it has processed in violation of the law。
Reference is made to the provisions of article 3. 10 of the personal information security code for information security technologies gb/t35273-2020, which refers to the removal of personal information from the system involved in the day-to-day operational function so that it remains untrievable and inaccessible. According to the service content of website a, the processing of information on a person on the site is mainly related to collection, use, storage, etc. In the course of the trial, there was no information on website a relating to a person's information, and the information retained could no longer be linked to himself, so that it could be concluded that the violation had ceased。
2. Apology regarding reparations
An apology as a form of civil liability is intended to compensate the victim for moral damage. The right to personal information falls within the scope of the right to personal status, and zhang's right to information has been violated in connection with the violation of the a website, which has caused moral damage to zhang, and is supported by the fact and legal basis that the operator of zhang's a website apologizes to him。
3. With regard to compensation for loss
