Courier company should take blame for personal data leaks

A media outlet recently reported that employees of YT Express, a leading courier company in China, colluded with other people to leak 400,000 sets of personal data of residents, drawing widespread public criticism and raising concern.

Although YT Express has released a statement on its official micro blog apologizing for the information leak and claiming that the company sounded the police immediately after detecting the leak, the public is not satisfied with the explanation. That’s because customers’ personal data have already been leaked, seriously violating their rights and interests.

As express delivery becomes indispensable to people’s daily lives, express delivery companies become repositories of citizens’ personal data, making the latter vulnerable to information leaks. Not surprisingly, there have been many cases of personal data leaks in recent years.

Individuals stealing or intentionally leaking citizens’ personal data face criminal punishment of up to seven years in prison, but that doesn’t spare organizations storing customers’ personal information of any responsibility in data leak cases.

Following an amendment to the Criminal Law in February 2009, organizations failing to protect users’ personal data leading to serious consequences can also be punished according to the law. Individuals and companies will both be held accountable for personal data leaks.

YT Express has more than 400,000 employees in its various branches, accessing a humongous volume of personal data, leaking of which can negatively impact individuals’ lives and security. It is therefore the company’s responsibility to establish a sound and effective supervision and management system to prevent personal data leaks.

The leak demonstrates that YT Express has loopholes in its information protection mechanism and should take responsibility accordingly to improve internal supervision and management. All companies and platforms should be held accountable in information leak cases, in order to safeguard customers’ rights and interests.