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More than 160 million pieces of personal information have been leaked in Beijing from 2010 to 2016. Many experts believe that more specific laws and severe penalties are needed to tackle crimes related to personal information security breaches in China.

According to a report by the Beijing Evening News on Sept. 6, a total of 162,513,874 pieces of personal information have been leaked since 2010. Courts in Beijing have heard 67 cases related to personal information leaks since 2013, most of which involved illegal trading and abuse of access to citizens' personal information.

The main sources of such leaks are express delivery companies, educational institutions and some public security organs; the biggest buyers are normally real estate companies and organizations in the insurance and health care industries. A piece of personal information can be obtained for a price as low as 0.5 yuan ($0.08), the report stated.

Many people believe that China’s current criminal law is not clear enough when it comes to crimes concerning personal information. Conviction for such crimes are rare, as the cases lack a strong legal basis. What's more, the punishments imposed on criminals are relatively light, according to Chen Xiaowen, a lawer from a Beijing-based law office.

In an interview with the Beijing Evening News, Chen remarked, “Criminal law does not specify the definition of citizens’ personal information or illegal access to such information. Many people are willing to take the risk of illegally trading personal information since it is a low-risk crime that can yield relatively large profits.”

Personal information leaks are all too common in China, and have caused great damage both to individuals and society in recent years. In August, Xu Yuyu, a high school graduate in Linyi, Shandong province, tragically died after being defrauded of 9,900 yuan due to a leak of her personal information.