The Standing Committee of the National People's Congress highlighted in its work report submitted during its annual session the need to formulate a data security law.

With the rapid development of the internet, big data now plays a very important role in not only people's daily lives but also their social progress. It not only makes their lives more smooth but also contributes to industrial and social development.

For instance, at the beginning of this year, big data played a key role in curbing the spread of the novel coronavirus and easing people's life during the quarantine period, by helping identify who might have come in close contact with a person infected with the novel coronavirus.

But the information pooling has brought with it a host of problems, such as leaks of personal information, which compromise privacy and seriously undermine individuals' rights and interests.

According to a report on the personal information collection and privacy policy of 100 apps, issued by the China Consumers Association in November 2018, more than 90 percent of them collect excessive personal data and information of the users, undermining their legal rights and infringing on their privacy.

More importantly, abuse of big data may compromise national security by disclosing State secrets, a problem that should worry the authorities as much as individuals.

China lacks sound and effective laws and regulations governing data application, compromising the data security of individuals as well as the country.

In the absence of laws, there is little an individual can do once his or her personal data are compromised. Even if the violators are punished, the punishment is often too little under the existing law.

At the ongoing session, several deputies urged the top legislature to accelerate formulation of a law to ensure data security.

It is hoped that a law specifically devoted to securing data will solve the problems brought about by new technology in the new era.