All virtual property rights need proper legal protection

Police officers make a list of bank cards seized in a telecommunication fraud case in Xuchang, Henan province, in January. NIU YUAN/CHINA DAILY

ON MONDAY, the Standing Committee of the 12th National People's Congress, China's top legislature, discussed the draft General Principles of the Civil Law. One major change is the deletion of the part that defines virtual property rights. Beijing News commented:

We now enjoy dual lives, as we increasingly have a presence in the virtual world as well as the physical world. We accumulate online profiles as we acquire various accounts and leave digital deposits as we move through cyberspace. But how much of such virtual assets belong to us? What rights do we have over this virtual property?

Judges at various levels have already handed down many sentences recognizing virtual property rights, and many legal experts have said people have rights over their virtual property.

But such an opinion is debatable because it is too narrow a definition.

Virtual property also includes the rights over personal information. For example, when you open an account with a social media provider such as WeChat, the account combines both your rights over any money you put in the account and your privacy rights.

If the law clearly, unambiguously defines the rights over virtual property as being akin to material property rights, that might undermine the protection over the immaterial part.

Of course, we do not mean that virtual property should be outside the protection of law. On the contrary, we believe that virtual property rights are very important and need ample protection. But by narrowly defining the right over virtual property as a kind of property right, we might weaken the protection given to privacy rights.

That is why the recent move of the NPC Standing Committee is a welcome one. We hope the legislators will be careful in protecting people's virtual property in all aspects.