LA TUTELA PENALE DELLA PRIVACY NELL'EPOCA DI INTERNET - ESPERIENZE ITALIANE E CINESI A CONFRONTO

The large-scale use of new technology is destined to transform profoundly the socio-institutional structure, and thus the interpersonal relations and the economic-productive structure become more and more dependent on the collection, processing and circulation of information. In particular, the computer science, telematics and Internet determine that the individuals that had a strictly personal sphere in the past are exposed in an almost immaterial external ambit. Nowadays, the legal protection of privacy is becoming a more and more significant legal theme. Meanwhile, it can not be neglected the fact that the penal protection on personal data has already become an issue of great importance. As to the right to privacy, since there is no doubt about its qualification as a fundamental right and the worthiness of its penal protection, it seems appropriate to illustrate the evolution of the legislation on personal data respectively in Italian law and in Chinese law. In a sector as privacy, the unanimous international orientation doesn’t imply that the penal solutions adopted by single State are highly similar. Therefore, the concrete penal approaches in these two countries’ law should be examined, taking into account the different positions taken in front of the subject in question. Moreover, the sensitive data, in addition to revealing immediately the identity and the personality of the subject, are often exploited to carry out prejudicial acts to the rights and discriminatory behaviours that cause damage to the person concerned. For the comparison between Italian law and Chinese law in this regard, it is proper to insist that the processing of sensitive data (as autonomy category) must be regulated by expressly elaborated institutes, so that a higher level of protection for the rights and freedom of the person concerned can be assured. On the other hand, with respect to health data, the contexts, purposes and methods of processing expose, more forcefully, the person to the real risk of social discriminations. This requires setting a protection, which is expressed in many instruments, in order to minimize the prejudice to the rights and to the freedoms of the persons concerned. Finally, with reference to the Chinese and Italian law regarding the Internet, the protection of privacy on-line, even from the penal point of view, requires a combination of legislative norms, self-regulations and technological tools of computer science. In fact, it is important to establish not only their contents, but also the proportions and relations between theses specially elaborated elements.