Chongqing Bans Parent Snooping

2010-08-26

A new law in China limits parental supervision.

AFP

Chongqing youngsters show off cards with their photos and particulars, Nov. 12, 2007.

HONG KONG—Authorities in the southwestern Chinese city of Chongqing have passed a new law forbidding parents to read their child's chat history, text messages, or private papers.

From Sept. 1, parents who sneak a peek at their child's communications or private writings, online, on paper, or on cell phones, will be in breach of the municipal "Law for the Protection of Minors" this week, local media reported.

The People's Congress in the mega-city of 28 million passed the legislation in response to national-level laws aimed at the protection of people under 18, the age when Chinese are considered adults.

"The legal rights and interests of minors should be given special, priority protection," the law states as its guiding principle, adding that the responsibility should be carried by the whole of society.

Clause 39 of the legislation states that "No individual or organization should break this law by opening or checking the letters, diaries, electronic diaries, online chat histories, or mobile phone text messages of minors, so as not to violate the privacy of minors."

Chinese parents said they might find such a rule hard to keep.

"He hates it if I look at his text messages or his QQ (instant messaging) chat history," said a Jiangxi-based parent of a 15-year-old boy. "He says it's all pretty normal stuff that gets said between him and his classmates."

"Today's society is a bit disorderly ... and he can be very easily enticed by certain things. The Internet isn't safe now, and there are all sorts of unhealthy things there," said the woman, who gave her surname as Wang.