Experts said China has failed to protect sensitive personal information after media reported on Monday that many online platforms continue to sell personal information, including bank statements and phone records.
Platforms on Sina Weibo, Tencent and Taobao offer hacking services and personal information, the Nandu Daily reported on Sunday.
Eleven pieces of information - ranging from flights, phone records to bank account transaction statements and criminal records - can be purchased online for 700 yuan ($101) within two days, which simply requires a person's identification number.
"Chinese citizens are powerless against their private information being exposed and trafficked because of the high cost of civil lawsuits in China and the slim chance of identifying the suspects," Xie Yongjiang, deputy director of the Institute of Internet Governance and Law at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, told the Global Times on Monday.
"Big data has the ability to access a person's life," Xie noted.
Law enforcement is difficult because the databases on personal information are normally collected by employees of companies and governments, which might be sold long after being collected, said Xie.
The perpetrators, their employers and platform operators will be held accountable for information leaks, according to China's first Cyber Security Law, which takes effect in June 2017, Qin An, director of the China Institute of Cyberspace Strategy, told the Global Times.
On Monday, 11 people were arrested by police from Central China's Hubei Province for allegedly hacking and reselling the personal information of 93,000 people, including their names, identification numbers and cell phone numbers. Police also seized 4 million yuan.
China's leading e-commerce retailer jd.com accidentally leaked thousands of personal data due to online security loopholes, the China News Service reported on Sunday.
Fang Binxing, developer of China's Great Firewall, told the Global Times that China shall improve and apply an e-ID encryption system for protecting personal information online, saying that improved technology is the key to solving unauthorized information disclosure, instead of law enforcement.
