A JUDICIAL INTERPRETATION jointly issued by the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate on the management of people's personal information comes into effect on Thursday. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

The document comes at a time when information sharks keep playing hide-and-seek with regulators. Although many have become cautious while offering their personal information including ID and cellphone numbers to strangers, there is no guarantee that they are immune to information leaks.

In some cases, it is "unlikely places"－banks, service stations, supermarkets－where people lower their guard and fall prey to information thieves. Not least because a sophisticated underground network of information exchanges has taken shape, and anyone may be involved.

In recent years, infringements on people's personal information security have become a serious problem, increasing day by day.

Criminal cases infringing on the individual information of citizens have become the source of many criminal acts. Most telecom frauds are based on illegally obtaining personal information.

What is more serious is that such crimes not only cause great financial losses but also unnecessary trouble and even unbearable distress for victims. In some telecom fraud cases last year the victims committed suicide after being swindled out of their hard-earned money.

The poor protection of people's personal information and inefficient implementation of the relevant laws are ultimately to blame for this. It is praiseworthy that the interpretation gets tougher on tackling personal data sharks, who face criminal accountability if their illicit gains exceed 5,000 yuan ($744). Now more institutional efforts are called for to enforce the law.