Reply of the SPC and SPP on Issues of Conviction and Sentencing for the Use of Cloud Storage in the Production, Copying, Selling, and Distribution of Obscene Electronic Information for Profit.

Title: Reply of the Supreme People's Court, Supreme People's Procuratorate on Issues of Conviction and Sentencing for the Use of Cloud Storage in the Production, Copying, Selling, and Distribution of Obscene Electronic Information for Profit.
Promulgating Entities: The Supreme People's Court, The Supreme People's Procuratorate
Reference number: Legal Interpretation (2017) No. 19
Promulgation Date: 2017-11-22
Expiration date: 
Source of text: http://www.court.gov.cn/zixun-xiangqing-69832.html

(Passed on August 28 2017 by the 30,by the 1724th session of the Adjudication Committee of the Supreme People's Court, and on October 10, 2017 by the 70th meeting of the 12th session of the prosecutor's committee of the Supreme People's Procuratorate, and is hereby promulgated, to take effect on December 1, 2017.)

People's courts, people's procuratorates of all provinces, autonomous regions and directly governed municipalities, PLA military courts and military procuratorates, branch courts of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region higher people's court for the production and construction corps, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps Procuratorate:

In recent years, some High People's Courts and provincial-level people's procuratorates have sought advice on issues of conviction and sentencing for the use of cloud storage in the production, copying, selling, and Distribution of obscene electronic information for profit. Upon research, the following reply is made:

I. Whether those who for the purpose of making a profit, use internet cloud storage to create, copy, sell, or distribute obscene electronic information, should be pursued for criminally responsibility, is to apply the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law and the "Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate Interpretation of Several Issues Concerning the Specific Application of Law in Criminal Cases of Using Internet or Mobile Network terminals in the Production, Copying, Publication, Sale, and Distribution of Obscene Electronic Information "(Legal interpretation〔2004〕No.11)," the "Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate Interpretation on Several Issues in criminal Cases of Using the Internet, Mobile Network Terminals, and Call Centers in the Production, Copying, Publication, Sale, and Distribution of Obscene Electronic Information (2)" （Legal interpretation〔2010〕No. 3）.

II. In light of the special characteristics of cloud storage, when pursuing the criminal responsibility of those who, for the purpose of making profits, use network cloud storage to produce, copy, sell or distribute obscene electronic information, the volume of electronic information produced, copied, soled, or distributed should not be considered alone, but instead full consideration should be given to circumstances such as the scope of dissemination, unlawful gains, the performance of the perpetrator, as well as whether the obscene materials involved or were distributed to minors, and comprehensively assess the dangerousness to society and give a proper punishment, to ensure the punishment is commensurate to the crime.

This is our Reply.