Illegal acquisition of vehicle location: the first case in the country is sentenced!
Compiled from: Jiangsu News
On March 24, the first nationwide case targeting the entire chain of "illegal acquisition of citizens' vehicle location information" was publicly heard and sentenced in court by the Gulou District People's Court of Nanjing.
Case review
Starting from June 2020, the defendants Huang Mou-lun and Li Mou, knowing that others were engaged in illegal vehicle tracking services, still developed and provided programs such as “JTC” and profited from them.
Operators of illegal vehicle-tracking services can use programs such as “JTC” provided by the two defendants to bypass the security protection mechanisms of certain parking platform systems, unlawfully obtain information on vehicle parking locations, or, based on customer requests, install GPS devices in locations such as under vehicles to unlawfully track vehicle movement trajectories. Defendant Huang Moumou accepted a commission from a person engaged in vehicle-tracking services to install a GPS device on a designated vehicle.
According to statistics, as of their apprehension in May 2022, Huang Moulin had illegally profited over 1.13 million yuan, while Li had illegally profited over 240,000 yuan.
The People's Court of Gulou District, Nanjing, held that parking information and vehicle trajectory reflect the living, working, and other activities of a specific natural person, and therefore constitute citizens' personal information that should be protected by law. The two defendants, knowing that others were illegally obtaining citizens' vehicle location information and profiting therefrom, still developed software programs for others to use, and the circumstances were especially serious. In addition, Huang Moulin also participated in downstream crimes such as installing GPS devices on designated vehicles. The acts of both individuals constituted the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.
The court rendered its verdict in court. Defendants Huang Mou-lun and Li Mou were sentenced to four years and eleven months, and three years and three months in prison, respectively, for the crime of infringing on citizens' personal information.
"Criminal Law of the People's Republic of China"
Article 253-1: [Crime of Infringing on Citizens' Personal Information]
Whoever, in violation of relevant state regulations, sells or provides citizens' personal information to others, if the circumstances are serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years or criminal detention, and shall also or only be fined; if the circumstances are especially serious, shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years, and shall also be fined.
Whoever, in violation of relevant state regulations, sells or provides citizens' personal information obtained during the performance of duties or provision of services to others shall be given a heavier punishment in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph.
Whoever steals or otherwise illegally obtains citizens' personal information shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the first paragraph.
Where a unit commits any of the crimes mentioned in the preceding three paragraphs, a fine shall be imposed on the unit, and the directly responsible person in charge and other directly responsible personnel shall be punished in accordance with the provisions of the respective paragraphs.
[1] The author's perspective
Citizens' personal information is related to the daily conduct of each individual's life and the maintenance of a normal living state, not only concerning personal reputation but also affecting social evaluation. The destruction or infringement of citizens' personal information may cause both material losses and mental harm to citizens, and affect the realization of their rights in social and economic life as well as social and political life.
The particularity of this case lies in the fact that the defendant trafficked not common personal information but vehicle driving information, which undoubtedly also falls under personal information. In today's increasingly advanced technology, although our lives are becoming more convenient, many rights are being infringed upon unconsciously. Therefore, in daily life, one should pay attention to protecting one's privacy. Once there is a risk of leakage, do not be indifferent, otherwise, significant losses may be suffered.
