Shanghai Milk Tea Shop Fined 50,000 Yuan for Collecting Customer Personal Information

A decade ago, it was unimaginable that we could shop anytime, anywhere with just a mobile phone, regardless of whether we remembered to bring our wallets. With technological advancements, online payment functions have become increasingly sophisticated. You can now complete ordering and payment functions on that small screen in your hand without even physically visiting a store. But have you ever noticed that many of these mini-program ordering services or on-site QR code scanning dining experiences require you to grant certain authorizations before you can continue using them?

According to reports from China Beverage Express, this October, the Putuo District Market Supervision Administration in Shanghai investigated and penalized a catering company for violating consumer personal information protection regulations. This Shanghai-based catering company placed QR codes on restaurant tables, allowing consumers to perform a series of operations including scanning to order and pay.

However, to complete these operations, consumers had to agree to authorize their phone numbers, and this agreement was mandatory. Throughout the entire process, consumers were not informed about the purpose of authorizing their phone numbers.

Furthermore, law enforcement authorities discovered that the restaurant was also collecting consumers' personal information. Member IDs, names, gender, phone numbers, card balances, and other information could be accessed, downloaded, and used in the operating system's backend. This data was fully visible to system operators, yet surprisingly, no confidentiality requirements had been established for these personnel.

Legal Consequences

In response to this incident, the Putuo District Market Supervision Administration in Shanghai determined that the catering company had violated Article 29 of the Consumer Rights Protection Law. The law enforcement agency issued a warning to the catering company along with a fine of 50,000 RMB.

Consumer Rights Protection Law Article 29:

Business operators collecting and using consumers' personal information shall follow the principles of legality, fairness, and necessity. They shall clearly disclose the purpose, method, and scope of information collection and use, and obtain consumer consent.

Business operators shall adopt technical measures and other necessary measures to ensure information security and prevent the leakage or loss of consumers' personal information. When information leakage or loss occurs or may occur, they shall immediately take remedial measures.

Current Data Collection Practices

Nowadays, whenever you visit bubble tea shops or convenience stores, they actively persuade consumers to scan QR codes, follow official accounts, log into mini-program accounts, and register as members. They even attempt to obtain unnecessary information such as consumers' names, phone numbers, addresses, and ID card numbers. Have these businesses transitioned from the people who used to harass you on the streets with surveys to collect personal data a decade ago?

Privacy Concerns and New Regulations

Must technological development inevitably harm personal privacy to the greatest extent possible? Even buying a cup of bubble tea requires collecting phone numbers and names—is this to facilitate the subsequent sale of customers' personal information before business liquidation, allowing educational institutions to harass customers with phone calls persuading them to enroll in courses?

In response to this situation, the Personal Information Protection Law came into effect this November, with penalty limits far exceeding those stipulated in the Consumer Rights Protection Law. Hopefully, the increased severity of penalties will make some bubble tea shops more cautious when arbitrarily collecting and managing consumers' personal information. After all, nobody wants to receive promotional calls and text messages.

Image source: Internet

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