China to Pass Data Privacy Law That Allows Government Prying: WSJ

(AF) China is preparing to pass the world’s strictest data privacy law, the Wall Street Journal has reported. But unlike that enacted in Europe, China’s will have one big difference – the government is still expected to have access to personal intel.

Officials are going through the third and final reading of the Personal Information Protection Law, which is designed to protect citizens’ data from abuse by fraudsters and companies, the report added. Data users must limit how much they collect and obtain prior consent, it stated. Full report: Wall Street Journal.

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Mark McCord

Mark McCord is a financial journalist with more than three decades experience writing and editing at global news wires including Bloomberg and AFP, as well as daily newspapers in Hong Kong, Sydney and Melbourne. He has covered some of the biggest breaking news events in recent years including the Enron scandal, the New York terrorist attacks and the Iraq War. He is based in the UK. You can tweet to Mark at @MarkMcC64371550.