Academic frontiers
On the mandatory contractual obligations of large-scale platform enterprises for data transactions
In the process of the development of the digital economy, large platform enterprises have accumulated massive data resources, forming a "data gap" with small and medium-sized market entities, and some small and medium-sized market entities need the data support of large platforms to continue to operate. However, in order to maintain their competitive advantage, large platforms will reject reasonable data transaction requests from small and medium-sized market entities, and data crawling is unable to meet the data acquisition needs of small and medium-sized market entities due to legal constraints. Since the application of the "principle of necessary facilities" and the "liability for refusal to trade" under the framework of the Anti-Monopoly Law cannot effectively solve the problem of the "data divide", in order to balance the data rights and interests of large platforms and the development rights and interests of small and medium-sized market entities, it is necessary to return to the path of civil and commercial law to promote the open data of large platforms and establish a mandatory contractual obligation system for data transactions of large platforms. When constructing a system of mandatory contractual obligations for large-scale platform data transactions, the conditions for application should be carefully set and the connotation of the system should be clarified, so as to prevent the excessive application of the system from causing negative effects. (Full text published in Chinese and Foreign Law, Issue 1, 2024)
Sun Qingbai is an associate professor at the Department of Law, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Hou Dongde|Basic Issues and Institutional Structure of Artificial Intelligence Law
The legislative work of the Mainland Artificial Intelligence Law has been initiated, and it is urgent to clarify the basic issues such as the attributes, legislative purpose, adjustment objects and basic principles of the Artificial Intelligence Law, and to carry out the institutional framework of the Artificial Intelligence Law on the basis of clarifying these basic issues. The AI Law should be positioned as a public law with the attributes of private law, with the legislative purpose of promoting AI technology innovation and preventing AI technology risks, with AI technology research and development activities, application activities, and risk management activities as the adjustment objects, and the institutional framework design of the AI Law under the guidance of the principles of fairness, reliability, controllability, trustworthiness, equal emphasis on security and development, and compliance. Specifically, the AI Law should establish an institutional system for the development and promotion of AI from the aspects of achieving major breakthroughs in AI technology and promoting the implementation of multiple application scenarios of AI, build an institutional system for AI security risk prevention through the establishment of an AI access system, a hierarchical and classified supervision system, a trial-and-error fault tolerant supervision system, and a collaborative supervision system, and build an obligation system for AI developers and providers from two aspects: general and special obligations of AI developers and providers. (The full text was published in the 6th issue of "Political and Legal Review" in 2023)
Hou Dongde is a professor at the School of Civil and Commercial Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law
The application of big data analysis in legal supervision
In the context of informatization, big data analysis has become one of the important means of legal supervision. Procuratorial big data supervision is a practical need to maximize the use of procuratorial resources and improve the overall case-handling ability and quality and efficiency of procuratorial organs. The use of big data to carry out legal supervision is a major change for procuratorial organs to break the bottleneck of supervision, optimize the supervision process, and reshape the supervision model, and it is also a key variable to achieve a leap in the quality and efficiency of legal supervision in the new era. Thanks to the implementation of the digital procuratorial strategy, the use of big data in the field of legal supervision has entered a period of rapid development, and the relevant exploration and practice have achieved remarkable results, but there are still problems and deficiencies in the concept, mechanism, path, etc., it is necessary to carry out countermeasure research from the dimensions of concept update, top-level design, system collaboration, etc., from the business logic, idea expansion, In terms of modeling methods, it is important to construct specific paths and long-term mechanisms for the application of big data analysis in legal supervision, so as to provide solutions for the deepening and development of big data legal supervision. (The full text was published in the Journal of the National Prosecutors College, Issue 1, 2024)
Weng Yueqiang is the deputy director of the Office of the Leading Group for Digital Procuratorial Work of the Supreme People's Procuratorate
Limitation and expansion of the right to withdraw consent to the processing of personal information in the contractual relationship
Article 15 of the PIPL gives the information subject the right to withdraw consent to the processing of information at any time without any condition or burden. However, when consent to the processing of information is the contractual obligation of the data subject, the right of withdrawal has an impact on the binding force and performance of the contract, so the existing norms should be appropriately interpreted and adjusted to limit the impact of the right of withdrawal system on the contractual relationship. The scope of application of the right of withdrawal shall be limited to contractual scenarios where the processing of personal information poses a high risk of harm to personality and property, and the existing rules for the protection of personality rights do not provide adequate protection for this, i.e., it is mainly limited to consumer contracts and labor contracts. The commercial use of the Personality Mark is not a risk area that requires the intervention of the PIPL's prior prevention mechanism, and the personality right holder in the Personality Mark Licensing Contract is not in a vulnerable position, so the right of withdrawal does not apply to the Personality Symbol Licensing Contract. The data subject has the right to waive the right of withdrawal in advance. After the right of withdrawal is exercised, the validity of the bilateral contract in which the processing of consent to information is the treatment and payment shall not be affected, the withdrawal is a breach of contract with delay in performance, the information subject shall not be liable for damages for breach of contract and shall not be liable for the loss of trust interests because there is no attributable cause; and the counterparty of the contract shall enjoy the right of termination under certain conditions. (Full text published in Law Science, Issue 12, 2023)
Yang Fang is a lecturer at the Law School of Hainan University
Review of DEPA's rules on cross-border flow of personal information and adaptation to Chinese law
In the context of the digital economy, major countries in the world are actively exploring and coordinating the rules for the protection of personal data and information and the rules for the free flow of cross-border information. The Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) requires member states to find a reasonable balance between the free cross-border flow of personal data and information and the protection of their security rights and interests, with a view to forming a unified cooperation mechanism for the protection and supervision of cross-border flow of personal information. The mainland is advancing the negotiations to join DEPA, but there are differences between the rules on the cross-border flow of personal data and information in domestic laws and the relevant rules of DEPA, such as the legislative concept and objectives, the purpose of the rules design, and the criteria for determining the limitations. In the context of the modernization of the Chinese-style foreign-related rule of law, in order to better adapt to the cross-border flow of personal information rules that integrate mainland domestic law and DEPA to promote the development of digital trade, it is necessary to reasonably invoke exception clauses to safeguard national sovereignty and security interests, improve the trustworthy mark and certification system for personal information protection, clarify the scope and content of personal information that needs to be strictly protected, and strengthen the cooperation mechanism for the protection and supervision of cross-border personal information flow with DEPA member countries. (Full text published in Legal Science (Journal of Northwest University of Political Science and Law), Issue 1, 2024)
Song Yunbo is a professor at the School of International Law, Southwest University of Political Science and Law
Zhang Yiran|Criminal law and regulations for the abuse of disclosed personal information
Although the disclosure of personal information means that the content of the information has lost its protection, it does not mean that the data carrier itself has lost its protection, and the right to self-determination of personal information, the legal interests of data security, and the rights and interests of data property should be distinguished. Scraping disclosed personal information in batches through technical means is intrusive, and if the confidentiality of the data is infringed, the crime of illegally obtaining data from a computer information system can still be established. In principle, the latter actor does not bear criminal liability for the act of selling, providing, or otherwise processing illegally disclosed personal information, and when the latter actor is a large-scale online platform, it may be in the position of a guarantor based on the fact that it voluntarily assumed a fiduciary obligation to the fragile legal interest of the right to self-determination of personal information, or because the previous system setup and functional design formed a compliance risk, and the impure omission of the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information can be established. For downstream abuses that deviate from the original purpose and use of the disclosed personal information, the information subject has been deceived by the purpose and purpose of the information disclosure, and has made an error in his or her original consent: for public data disclosed on the basis of statutory reasons, free circulation shall be allowed, so the error in the purpose and use does not affect the validity of the consent; Sensitive personal information such as facial recognition shall be used strictly in accordance with the original purpose and purpose, and facial recognition information obtained in public places may only be used for the purpose of maintaining public safety, otherwise consent will be invalid. (The full text was published in China Criminal Law Journal, Issue 6, 2023)
Zhang Yiran is a postdoctoral fellow at Fudan University Law School
New Regulation Express
Chengdu Economic and Information Bureau and other seven departments|Several Policies and Measures of Chengdu to Further Promote the High-quality Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry
On January 18, 2024, seven departments including the Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology jointly issued the "Several Policies and Measures for Further Promoting the High-quality Development of the Artificial Intelligence Industry in Chengdu". The Measures include (1) policies to promote the development of AI algorithms, (2) policies to promote the improvement of AI energy levels, and (3) policies to build an AI industry ecosystem. The goal is to build an industrial ecology from theoretical algorithm research and development to industry transformation and application, and create an innovative and innovative, large-scale, and ecologically complete artificial intelligence industry development highland. (Chengdu Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information Technology)
Shanghai Lingang|Measures for the Classification and Grading of Cross-border Data Flows in the Lingang Special Area (Trial)
News on January 22, 2024. Recently, the Administrative Measures for the Classification and Grading of Cross-border Data Flow in the Lingang Special Area (Trial) was released at the International Data Economy Industry Innovation Conference. The Measures divide cross-border data into three levels, from high to low: core data, important data, and general data. Cross-border data is prohibited for core data, important data can be submitted to the Cyberspace Administration of the Municipal Party Committee for cross-border data transfer security assessment after the initial verification of application materials through the Cross-border Data Service Center of the Lingang Special Area, and general data can flow freely if relevant management requirements are met. (Netcom Shanghai)
The UK government has published a draft Code of Practice for Cyber Governance
On January 23, 2024 local time, the UK government released a draft Code of Practice for Cyber Governance and solicited public comments. The product of extensive collaboration with organisations that manage business risk on a day-to-day basis and provide advice, the document has been designed with the participation of industry leaders and technologists from the UK's National Cyber Security Centre, and it focuses on the most critical areas that leaders must be involved in, resulting in simple, action-focused guidance that makes it easier for leaders to understand what actions should be taken. The document emphasizes that leaders of relevant entities should pay special attention to five areas: risk management, cyber strategy, people, emergency planning and response, and assurance and oversight. （TechUK）
Nine departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology|Work Plan for Digital Transformation of Raw Material Industry
On January 25, 2024, the website of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology announced the Notice on Printing and Distributing the > of the Work Plan for the Digital Transformation of the < Raw Material Industry (2024-2026). Programme of Work Deploy 14 main tasks in four aspects: (1) strengthen basic capabilities, consolidate the digital foundation, improve the network foundation, and strengthen the intelligent foundation; (2) deepen the enabling application, help high-end upgrading, support green development, ensure safe production, and achieve efficient operation; (3) strengthen the cultivation of entities, cultivate digital transformation benchmarks, promote the integration and development of large and medium-sized enterprises, and promote the intelligent construction of industrial parks; (4) improve support services, strengthen the supply of technological innovation, strengthen artificial intelligence-driven, enhance public service support, and strengthen network and data security governance。 (Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)
The State Council promulgated the revised Provisions of the State Council on the Notification Standards for Concentration of Undertakings
On 26 January 2024, the Chinese government published on its website the revised Provisions of the State Council on the Notification Standards for Concentration of Undertakings, which will come into force on 22 January 2024. The Provisions raise the standards for reporting the concentration of undertakings, and if the concentration of undertakings reaches the listed level, the undertakings shall report to the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency of the State Council in advance, and shall not implement the concentration if they fail to do so. Compared with the draft before the amendment, the total global turnover, the total turnover in China and the unilateral turnover in China as specified in the Provisions have all increased significantly. (Chinese government website)
The U.S. Department of Commerce issued a proposal to take additional steps to address a national emergency caused by significant malicious cyber activity
On January 29, 2024 local time, the U.S. Department of Commerce issued a proposal announcement (NPRM) on "Further Measures to Respond to the National Emergency Caused by Major Malicious Cyber Activities" for public comment. This follows an executive order from the Department of Commerce requiring legislation to enable providers of certain IaaS products to report to the Secretary of Commerce when they transact with foreign individuals who use the products to train AI models that may be used for malicious cyber activity. The Measures stipulate customer authentication procedures and exceptions, as well as special measures and an AI training reporting system. （Federal Register）
Applicable Law
Meta has been sued for using pirated books to train AI, but has refused to compensate for it
News on January 15, 2024. Meta is facing a class action lawsuit from authors, including comedian Sarah Silverman and writer Richard Kadrey, for training its LLAM 1 and LLAM 2 models using the "Books3" dataset, which contains a large number of pirated books. Books3 is a text dataset of 195,000 books with a total capacity of nearly 37 gigabytes, containing a large number of copyrighted works crawled from the pirate website Bibliotik. Meta acknowledges its use of Books3 but denies intentional copyright infringement, arguing that it is fair use without licensing, attribution or compensation. （DoNews）
Hangzhou Internet Court released the top 10 typical cases of online intellectual property rights
On January 18, 2024, the Hangzhou Internet Court released the Top Ten Typical Cases of Online Intellectual Property Rights of the Hangzhou Internet Court. The top 10 typical cases released in this batch mainly involve the judicial regulation of "virtual digital humans" in the form of rights aggregation, the determination of the legal liability of NFT digital works and their trading platforms, the judicial determination of the relationship between online games and the adaptation of magical special effects films, the regulation of the Internet-specific clauses for fictional data driven by data and algorithms, the path of protecting trade secrets of online live streaming data, the judicial regulation of the live broadcast behavior of artificial intelligence robots, the determination of the legal attributes of intelligent human-computer interaction generators, and the "impersonation of songs" in the digital era Practical issues such as the review and determination of infringement, the criteria for determining the originality of short video template works, and the judicial determination of conflicts between domain name registration and trademark rights. (Hangzhou Internet Court)
EU: Seeking Comments on Apple's Commitment to Antitrust Investigations
On January 19, 2024 local time, the European Commission announced that it was soliciting feedback from competitors and customers on the concessions made by Apple to resolve EU antitrust allegations and avoid possible large fines. Previously, EU regulators accused Apple of restricting users from using its NFC-based touch-based mobile payment system, as it made it difficult for competitors to develop alternative payment options for iOS-based devices and to compete with Apple Pay and wallet apps. (European Commission)
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has reported typical cases of violations of laws and regulations in the real estate intermediary industry that infringe on citizens' personal information
On January 22, 2024, the website of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced the "Notice on Typical Cases of Violations of Laws and Regulations in the Real Estate Intermediary Industry". There are a total of 5 typical cases in this batch, involving employees of real estate brokerage companies illegally selling the company's internal owner information, real estate brokerage employees illegally obtaining citizens' personal information, operating second-hand housing rental and sales platforms and attracting real estate intermediaries to provide information to websites, and real estate economic practitioners privately retaining the owner's information to conduct business. In Case 3, an employee of a real estate consulting company purchased a large number of citizens' personal information of residents in a local real estate community for profit, and was criminally punished for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information. (Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development)
Beijing Internet Court announced the top 10 typical cases in 2023
On January 22, 2024, the Beijing Internet Court announced the top 10 typical cases in 2023. The cases announced this time cover issues such as the determination of the copyright of AI-generated content, the determination of the ownership of email data, the protection of the personal information of the deceased, the definition of the attributes of personal information access records, the regulation of malicious litigation of intellectual property rights, and the demonstration litigation of batch disputes over the right of online communication, etc., and play a leading and exemplary role in promoting the rule of law in cyberspace governance. (Beijing Internet Court)
The Cyberspace Administration of the Henan Provincial Party Committee handled a number of illegal online accounts in accordance with law
News on January 27, 2024. In order to warn and educate relevant online information content producers and continue to purify the online ecological environment, the Cyberspace Administration of the Henan Provincial Party Committee has handled a number of illegal online accounts in accordance with law. This batch of accounts has illegal circumstances that disrupt the good Internet order, such as publishing false and untrue information, spreading online rumors, slandering others, infringing on others' reputations and other lawful rights and interests. The Cyberspace Administration of the Henan Provincial Party Committee emphasized that online information content producers shall abide by laws and regulations, follow public order and good customs, and must not harm the national interest, the public interest, or the lawful rights and interests of others. Online information content service platforms shall perform entity responsibility for information content management, and strengthen the governance of the platform's online information content ecosystem. (Qinglang Henan)
Industrial development
Nvidia and others will build a pilot plant in Malaysia
Nikkei Asia reported on January 16 that Nvidia (Nvidia) and Kinsus Interconnect Technology, a supplier of American Chaowei Semiconductor Corporation (AMD), is considering establishing a substrate manufacturing plant in Penang, Malaysia, to join the ranks of companies reviving Malaysia's chip supply chain. Kinsus, a subsidiary of iPhone assembler Pegatron, has rented a factory in Penang and will begin trial running the final step of substrate production – testing and quality control – as early as the second quarter of this year as part of its efforts to diversify production outside of China, two people familiar with the matter said. (Nikkei Asia)
Arizona State University announced that it has reached an in-depth cooperation with OpenAI
On January 18, Arizona State University (ASU) announced an in-depth cooperation with OpenAI to use ChatGPT-4 for free, build its own workspace, and reach more cooperation intentions. The collaboration aims to enhance the university's learning capacity and creativity, while implementing the "AI Acceleration Program" as part of the AI development strategy to support student learning and innovative research. While there is a lot of anticipation for collaboration among teachers and students, there are also concerns about possible abuse. ASU plans to establish an ethics committee to oversee collaboration, ensure fair opportunities for students, and apply ChatGPT technology to academic research and teaching innovation, cementing ASU's leadership in the field of technological advancement. (Arizona State University, USA)
Google announced ASPIRE, a training framework that significantly improves the output accuracy of large language models
On January 18, Google launched ASPIRE, a training framework designed for large language models, which can enhance the selective prediction capabilities of AI models. Google mentions that due to the uncertainty and potential of "hallucination" in model predictions, this training framework was developed to introduce a "trustworthiness" mechanism for the series of models. The researchers concluded that ASPIRE framework training can significantly improve the output accuracy of large language models, allowing even smaller models to make "accurate and confident" predictions after fine-tuning. （Google）
Stability AI｜宣布推出新的小型语言模型
On January 19, Stability AI released a smaller and faster version of its open-source Stability Small Language Model (SLM), Stable LM 2 1.6B. Stable LM 2 1.6B is an advanced 1.6 billion parameter small language model trained using multilingual data in English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Dutch. The compact size and speed of this model lowers the hardware barrier, enabling more developers to participate in the generative AI ecosystem. （Stability AI）
VOYAH will be equipped with Huawei's intelligent driving system
On January 22, VOYAH announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Huawei. It is reported that the two parties will jointly create the ultimate intelligent travel experience based on the advantages of their respective fields, focus on user needs, and accelerate the large-scale commercialization of intelligent technology through innovative exploration in multiple fields through cooperative models. Industry insiders predict that VOYAH Automotive may cooperate with Huawei in the HI mode, that is, Huawei provides full-stack intelligent vehicle solutions, including Huawei's self-developed intelligent driving system, cockpit system, domain controller, chips, motors, and various sensors. (Phoenix.com)
NASA will work with Archer, a U.S. flying car company, to develop a test battery
On January 22, local time, Archer Aviation Inc., a leader in electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft in the United States, announced the signing of the Space Act Agreement with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Proven battery technology is expected to be a key enabler for the mass production and adoption of electric aviation, so the project will focus on research on high-performance batteries and safety testing for advanced air mobility (AAM) and space applications. （Archer Aviation）
China FAW officially launched GPT-BI
On January 22, GPT-BI, a large-scale model application created by China FAW and Alibaba Cloud Tongyi Qianwen, was launched, adding new vitality to the digital transformation and upgrading of China FAW. The application can receive natural language queries and automatically generate analysis charts based on enterprise data, with an accuracy rate of nearly 90%. Compared with the traditional BI (Business Intelligence) fixed Q&A, it can realize any combination of Q&A, and data can be penetrated at any time, so that "Q&A is insight". (Caixin)
The National Science Foundation launched the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot Program
On January 24, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced the launch of the National Artificial Intelligence Research Resource Pilot (NAIRR) program. The project includes four focus areas: access to general AI resources, a focus on privacy-preserving technology research and development, an exploration of interoperability between AI tools, and the provision of education and advocacy resources. In addition to government agencies, more than two dozen technology companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, NVIDIA, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft, will also provide resources and contribute to the pilot project. (National Science Foundation)
Quark|Launched a new large-scale model product "AI PPT"
On January 25th, Quark App launched a new product based on large model "AI PPT", users search for AI PPT in the search bar, and directly enter the required topic in the input bar, which can generate a PPT file in dozens of seconds. This function has the three characteristics of "smarter, more professional, and easier to operate", and users can complete PPT production on the mobile phone, and can also use various templates provided by platforms such as iSlide. (Caixin)
Amazon will invest in the construction of two data center complexes
Reuters reported on January 26 that the head of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Amazon's cloud platform, said that he plans to invest $10 billion to build two data center complexes in Mississippi to expand its cloud service capabilities. Most of the world's traffic will be managed on the cloud infrastructure of the world's three largest vendors – Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Azure, Microsoft's intelligent cloud platform. (Reuters)