Jiayuan.com infringes rights! Members' privacy is freely viewable, yet they turn a blind eye when encountering fraud.
Compiled from The Paper
Jiayuan.com, which claims to have 220 million registered members, implemented an updated "Jiayuan Privacy Protection Policy" on the second day after the Personal Information Protection Law took effect. Ironically, on the backend of Jiayuan.com, registered members' private personal information is openly provided to "matchmaker" sales staff to understand users' mate preferences for "precision marketing."
Case review
In early November, The Paper applied for a job at a Jiayuan.com offline VIP service center (a directly operated store) and became a matchmaking salesperson focused on telemarketing (referred to as "sales matchmaker" below). After training and starting work, they gained access to Jiayuan.com's member management backend, where they could freely view members' personal information, including records of opposite-sex photos browsed by members and all chat logs sent.
Regarding this infringement on members' personal privacy, one salesperson was dismissive, saying, "What's the big deal? It makes it easier to tailor the pitch. If he likes long hair, just mention long hair and describe it based on the opposite-sex profiles he's viewed."
Another sales matchmaker "warned" the reporter that even if they saw abnormal chat content, such as signs of a "pig-butchering scam" or fraud, they should pretend not to see it; otherwise, if the user reported the company for invading personal privacy, "that would be trouble."
The matchmaking platform, aiming for "precision marketing," tacitly allows sales staff to freely browse users' private information. This behavior is extremely egregious and has crossed legal boundaries.
Personal Information Protection Law
Article 6: The processing of personal information shall have a clear and reasonable purpose, be directly related to that purpose, and adopt the method that has the least impact on individual rights and interests.
The Data Security Law of the People's Republic of China
Article 8: When conducting data processing activities, laws and regulations shall be complied with, social ethics and morals shall be respected, business ethics and professional ethics shall be observed, honesty and trustworthiness shall be upheld, obligations for data security protection shall be fulfilled, social responsibility shall be undertaken, and national security and public interests shall not be harmed, nor shall the lawful rights and interests of individuals or organizations be damaged.
[1] The author's perspective
Nowadays, it is very common for enterprises to use big data algorithm analysis to provide precise services to users, but the prerequisite is not to harm the legitimate rights and interests of consumers or violate existing laws and regulations. Private communication content between users and personal preferences can expose users' consumption habits and personal information, and such information is highly sensitive privacy information that we now attach great importance to. Jiayuan.com's behavior of "peeping" behind the platform not only violates the Personal Information Protection Law but also breaches the Data Security Law. Moreover, Jiayuan.com's staff turning a blind eye to those who use its platform for fraud may violate the Criminal Law, constituting a crime of omission.
The author reminds that besides consumers needing to strengthen their self-protection awareness, administrative supervision and judicial measures must also advance in tandem. The cyberspace administration, public security organs, and relevant network authorities should strengthen supervision over such matchmaking platforms, conduct comprehensive and round-the-clock oversight, and strive to eliminate regulatory blind spots. Once violations are discovered, they must be punished according to law. Only when the cost of infringement exceeds the gains from infringement can illegal acts be effectively curbed and implemented in practice, ensuring that the law is not merely an empty ornament.
