Inhabitants of the virtual world need protection by rule of law

At the opening of the second World Internet Conference on Wednesday, China made sure its voice was heard: Every country has the right to create its own Internet governance model, and the cyber sovereignty of all nations should be respected. [Photo/Agencies]

RECENTLY GOOGLE AND FACEBOOK were reported to be the victims of a $100-million phishing scam conducted by a Lithuanian man, who has now been charged by the US Department of Justice. Beijing Youth Daily comments:

The case shows we still lack effective global internet governance.

Since there are no governance regulations that suit all countries and regions, it is time each country drafted one of its own. Actually, the fraudster in the Google and Facebook case cheated in a way that is quite common in China: He pretended to be a customer of the two companies and sent emails asking for money. In China that happens every day and the authorities have done very well in educating people not to fall into such traps.

The Chinese authorities are also doing well in combating online fraud and regulating the internet. According to 110.360.cn, an official platform for reporting internet scams, they received 20,623 such reports in 2016, with the total money involved reaching 195 million yuan ($28.3 million). Some experts have even estimated that the losses to internet fraud may exceed 100 billion yuan a year.

China has been constantly fighting the fraudsters who hide in the vast expanse of the internet. The country has already established a nationwide big data anti-fraud platform, and it is building a long-term regulation mechanism for the internet. But improved legislation is needed to protect personal information in order to effectively fight fraudsters.

The internet must be under the rule of law and only proper regulation can protect people's legal rights and allow the virtual economy to prosper. The case of Google and Facebook shows that creativity alone is not enough, what is needed is stricter regulation.