Legal challenges in the internet age

Anna Xue is the IP director at the legal department of Perfect World. In today’s developed network economy, how counsel with internet companies address issues involving data privacy and copyright protection is of interest to all in-house counsel. Here she shares her views with China Business Law Journal.

CBLJ: Can you outline your early career experience?

Xue: I have worked at state-owned, foreign-funded and private enterprises. They are very good companies, among which are time-honoured establishments, a company listed in Europe, and a Fortune 500 company. They have provided me with excellent growth platforms and resources at different stages – I had the time of my life serving each of them.

For example, I was the head of a new department in a state-owned enterprise, where I felt the pressure to meet market expectations, as start-ups did. This experience enabled me to take a more empathic approach to balancing the income pressure and compliance needs of business teams in my future career.

When working at a foreign-funded company, which is a time-honoured European enterprise with a history going back more than a century, I reported directly to the CEO. I had the opportunities to zoom in and fully experience the well-established compliance and governance culture of the company and its relevant systems. I was also able to work side by side with business teams for each order.

The work experience at the global Fortune 500 company was uniquely different. The huge business size brought unexpected complexity to compliance programmes and risk controls, providing me with opportunities to further strengthen my project execution and management capabilities.

CBLJ: What can you tell us about your experience in translating data privacy laws across jurisdictions, and what can outbound Chinese companies learn from these laws?

Xue: I have participated in the translation of legislation, cases and literature on personal data protection from jurisdictions that included the US, Europe, Brazil, India and Japan. Generally, there are two views that I would like to share. First, the perception that personal data protection should be valued in the digital economy era has become a widely accepted value. Second, countries are fighting increasingly fiercely for legislative power in the online world.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are Anna Xue’s and do not represent those of her company.