Live Broadcast of Using Open-Air Mobile Toilets

The use of open-air mobile toilets was 'live broadcast' due to design flaws, infringing on citizens' privacy rights, and the management party is liable.

Incident Details

On February 5th, a woman in Henan captured an embarrassing scene where citizens using mobile toilets were being 'live broadcast'. The upper part of the toilet had transparent windows without any遮挡 (obstruction/cover, here we use 'obstruction' for better context in English), allowing people outside to clearly see actions such as pulling up pants and adjusting clothes while using the toilet. Moreover, there were many people waiting outside the toilet at that time, making the situation extremely awkward both inside and outside. This design flaw exposed citizens' private activities to the public eye, seriously infringing on their privacy.

Legal Basis

• Relevant Provisions of the Civil Code: Article 110 of the Civil Code stipulates that natural persons have the right to privacy. Article 1032, paragraph 2, defines privacy as the tranquility of a natural person's private life and private spaces, activities, and information that they do not wish to be known by others. It also clarifies that natural persons have the right to privacy, and no organization or individual may infringe upon the privacy rights of others by means of snooping, harassment, disclosure, or publicizing. The transparent design of open-air mobile toilets, which results in the public exposure of citizens' toilet use, clearly constitutes an act of infringing upon others' privacy rights by publicizing.
• Relevant Provisions of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests: Article 42 of the Law on the Protection of Women's Rights and Interests also explicitly stipulates that women's right to privacy is protected by law. This means that when women use public toilets, their privacy is also strictly protected by law and must not be infringed upon.

Liability of the Management Party

As the manager of public toilets, the management party should assume corresponding management obligations regarding the safety and privacy of the toilets during use. If the rights of toilet users are impaired due to poor management or design flaws, the public toilet management party should assume civil liability for compensation. In this incident, the management party has the responsibility to rectify the toilet, such as by installing obstructions, to ensure that citizens' right to privacy is protected.