China to redefine personal data stealing laws

China has plans to redefine regulations about stealing personal data as it causes a lot of inconvenience to the general public.

According to a senior officer from the ministry of public security, crimes involving personal data theft will be regulated and clearly defined. The move follows police campaign targeting information leaks, China Daily reported.

"We're negotiating with the Supreme People's Procuratorate and the Supreme People's Court to push forward the legislation to protect personal data," said Liao Jinrong, deputy director of criminal investigation department, Ministry of Public Security.

The country lacks a specific regulation with a clear definition of such crimes, making it difficult to obtain convictions.

In April, police launched a national campaign to combat crimes related the personal data's theft.

Police discovered the identity of 44 people providing illegal information, destroyed 161 unauthorised databases, and closed 611 companies that illicitly conducted surveys.

The data is sold to pass on this information through an online database, and resell it to illegal consulting or business companies.

Leaking of personal information poses a number of threats, not least to members of the public who may face blackmail or fraud, said Liao, adding that there is growing demand for personal data.

Usually details primarily fall into two categories -- Commercial activity, including real estate and insurance or criminal activity, including telecom or Internet scams, extortion, blackmail and kidnapping, the offical said.

"We may get spam messages that annoy us but the crimes triggered by leaked personal data cause real harm to society."