Legal Attributes of IP Attribution Information under China’s PIPL: Clarification of Identifiability Terminology and Operationalisation of Identifiability Criteria

Abstract

Major Chinese internet platforms recently introduced the function of revealing users’ IP attribution information. However, it is unclear whether such information fall under China’s PIPL’s definition of “personal (identified) information”, as the law does not clearly define the identifiability terminology, nor does it provide an operational approach to the identifiability criteria. Combining research methods such as comparative law studies and case studies, this difficulty in the application of the PIPL can be resolved from two mutually complementary directions. First, the identifiability terminology in China’s PIPL can be specified into three different sets of connotations, only one of which needs to be satisfied by the target information: direct or indirect identification, identified or possible identification, identity or feature identification. Secondly, the identifiability criteria can be made operational through a joint horizontal and vertical evaluation system in which the following two elements must be satisfied simultaneously: the horizontal distinction between the target user and other users, and the vertical counterpart between the target message and the target user. In particular, it is more appropriate for the practitioners of China’s PIPL to tackle their vertical counterpart evaluation with the “subjective/relative approach”. By using the aforementioned methods, it may be proven that IP attribution information qualifies as “personal information” under Chinese law and society. Other information with unclear legal attributes can also benefit from the above general approach and deductive demonstration.