"Bounty Hunter" sounds like a mysterious and legendary profession, and someone has created an app called "Bounty Hunter". In this app, the so-called "prey" is the vehicle parked on the side of the road, and it is possible to get a "bounty" by taking a photo, and a random photo can give users the opportunity to become a "bounty hunter". However, such behavior has caused serious harm to the security of citizens' personal information. Let's take a look at the candidate cases of "Top 10 Cases in 2023 for Promoting the Rule of Law in the New Era"——
"Hacking" into the parking system to illegally obtain the whereabouts of the vehicle
The app, called "Bounty Hunter", looks like a regular app and is advertised as very easy to use. After downloading the software, users only need to take pictures of any vehicle they see, and then upload the picture and the location of the vehicle to the platform, and if the information uploaded by the user happens to be what the developer needs, they will receive a certain amount of tips. As a result, it quickly gained a lot of users, and in the eyes of the users of the software, it was just a matter of shooting and passing, and the pictures were all of vehicles parked in public places, so it was difficult for them to realize that it had anything to do with illegal behavior.
The police investigation found that the developer of the software was Xie Mou, the operator of an investment company, so why did he want to get information about these vehicles? What could he get through this information? This also started with a business that Xie had received.
Zhu Xiping, President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Xie runs a company called Yu Fengda, and he received a request from his family to find someone else's car.
The original business project of the company run by Xie was not to find a car, but in the process of operation, he found that he could make money by taking car search as his main business.
Li Liyuan, Vice President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Xie used to help others find loans, and then look for the assets mortgaged when the loans, including looking for vehicles.
At that time, Xie was looking for someone to develop this software called "Bounty Hunter". But after using it for a period of time, he found that there was a lag in the vehicle information he obtained through this software to find a car, and he could not obtain the location information of the vehicle in time.
Xie, the company's operator who was not satisfied with the status quo, wanted to find a car through more convenient technical means, so he asked the employee Huang to find a solution. In order to quickly find a car through technical means, Huang found the software developer Li through the Internet.
Zhu Xiping, President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: The software designed by Li can bypass the security protection system of a smart parking platform, and can timely capture the license plate number entered in the platform, and capture the personal information of citizens parking through the license plate number.
This means that as long as the vehicle is read by this smart parking platform, no matter when it enters the parking lot and how long it stays before leaving, Xie can easily obtain vehicle information and driving trajectory through the new software. However, Xie's business not only provides the service of finding a car, it claims that if it wants to grasp the real-time dynamics of the target vehicle, it can also provide a real-time GPS positioning service.
Zhu Xiping, President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: The so-called merchants can grasp the dynamic information and trajectory information of the vehicle in real time, which is the so-called G (GPS tracker).
In this way, Xie and others made a profit of more than 6.5 million yuan by illegally obtaining vehicle information.
Li Liyuan, Vice President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Xie paid 100 yuan for a car, and he only obtained the real-time location of the vehicle, so he did not provide the subsequent location change of the vehicle. If it is a G sticker, that is, a GPS, it is a price of 3500 yuan.
The focus of the trial is whether parking information is considered personal information
"Hack" into the parking system, obtain vehicle location information, in order to make profits, and even further secretly install positioning devices on the target vehicle to grasp the real-time dynamics of the vehicle, so that personal whereabouts and personal information are leaked. However, during the trial, "whether parking information is counted as citizens' personal information" has become the focus of controversy. So, how will the court find out?
During the trial of the case, the defendant Xie and others argued that the vehicle location information should not be called the personal information of citizens. Therefore, their actions do not constitute an act of infringing on the security of citizens' personal information and do not constitute the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.
On the basis of article 253-1 of the Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China, where the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information, or violating relevant state provisions, sells or provides citizens' personal information to others, and the circumstances are serious, is to be sentenced to up to three years imprisonment or short-term detention and/or a fine;
Where relevant state provisions are violated by selling or providing to others citizens' personal information obtained in the course of performing duties or providing services, a heavier punishment is to be given in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph. Where citizens' personal information is stolen or otherwise illegally obtained, punishment is to be given in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph.
The court held that citizens' parking information is closely linked to daily life Xi, rules and tracks, and is part of personal information.
Zhu Xiping, Chief Judge of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Article 253-1 of the Criminal Law refers to citizens' personal information that is recorded in electronic or other forms, is related to a citizen's personal identity and specific personal activities, can be used alone or in combination with other information, can be used to lock the citizen's identity, and information related to citizens' activities is called citizens' personal information.
Defendant Xie also argued that some of the vehicles he was looking for were commissioned by the loan company to inquire about the location of the designated vehicles and install location software, which could not be judged to be an infringement of citizens' personal information.
Li Liyuan, Vice President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Xie was authorized by some loan companies, so these loan companies do not rule out that some of them have indeed obtained the authorization of the owner's positioning, and they think that GPS can be installed, but the owner should say that he did not directly authorize Xie, and Xie will track their vehicle.
In other words, from a legal point of view, the defendant Xie was entrusted by the loan company to find the location information of the vehicle, and the entrustment of the two parties was not legal.
Zhu Xiping, President of the Criminal Division of Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Whether citizens' personal information can be obtained or not should first be explicitly authorized by law, or after the clear consent and authorization of individual citizens, citizens' personal information can be obtained.
The judicial interpretations on criminal cases of infringement of citizens' personal information issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Court in 2017 clearly point out that "citizens' personal information" as provided for in Article 253-1 of the Criminal Law refers to all kinds of information recorded electronically or otherwise that can identify a specific natural person or reflect the activities of a specific natural person, either alone or in combination with other information, including name, ID number, communication contact information, address, account password, property status, whereabouts, and so forth.
Zhu Xiping, President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Often, the trajectory of individual citizens' movements, or the parking information of vehicles associated with them, is very closely related to citizens' privacy and citizens' private activities, and this kind of information often involves the safety and freedom of movement of individual citizens. This category is also highly identifiable information, which belongs to citizens' personal information, and is also the legal meaning protected by the law.
The court held that Xie and others infringed on citizens' personal information in a series of five cases, illegally obtaining more than 400,000 pieces of vehicle location information, seriously endangering the security of citizens' personal information.
Zhu Xiping, President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: It should be said that he infringed on the personal information of unspecified citizens, involving citizens' freedom of movement, and there are other privacy spaces.
The court of first instance ruled that Xie and others constituted the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information, and sentenced them to fixed-term imprisonment ranging from 5 years and 10 months to 3 years and 3 months, and were also fined.
The judge pointed out that Xie and others illegally obtained citizens' parking information, vehicle location, and tracked and located vehicles, which had great potential safety risks.
Li Liyuan, Vice President of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: Whether the location information of the vehicle will potentially endanger the safety of the driver, and whether the location information of the vehicle is a legitimate and legal way to use it, is not something that Xie can guarantee at present.
Deng Youhua, Judge of the Criminal Division of the Nanjing Gulou District People's Court: We believe that the social harm of this kind of behavior is still relatively large, and parking information involves the personal and property safety of citizens, and must be protected.
Source: CCTV News