The attention of the child who sneaked out of school to play with their phone has returned to the classroom. Public interest litigation helps to rectify the chaos of "phone rental and storage" around the campus. Nowadays, walking around the campus in Sansui County, Guizhou Province, the once ubiquitous sign of "phone rental and storage" has disappeared, replaced by the prominent "Convention on the Protection of Minors". In the past, I used to worry that students would sneak out of school and 'play with their phones secretly'. Now that the shops that provide such services are gone, children's attention slowly returns to the classroom. "A local high school teacher expressed his emotions, describing the significant changes in the surrounding environment of the campus and the results they have brought. Behind this transformation is a public interest litigation practice led by the procuratorial organs and coordinated by multiple departments. The reporter recently learned that this case is the first civil public interest lawsuit filed by the national procuratorial organs against "illegal provision of mobile phone rental and storage services by shops around the campus". By the end of 2023, the People's Procuratorate of Sansui County, Guizhou Province, has received reports from many schools that some shops around the campus, under the name of "renting machines by the hour" and "depositing by the day", provide mobile phone rental and depositing services for primary and secondary school students, and even provide Internet access services in a disguised way. The school bell has not dissipated yet, and a stationery store at the back door of a middle school in Sansui County is already crowded with students carrying backpacks. The shop owner skillfully took these students to the small rooms inside the store, took out their phones from the drawers of the metal cabinet, and distributed them to the students, charging "rent" or "storage fees" ranging from 1 yuan to 10 yuan. In the room, more than 10 children lowered their heads and fought fiercely in a mobile game, and the air was filled with a mixture of instant noodles and sweat. This illegal service of "renting machines, storing them, and accessing the internet" was quietly spreading around many schools in the province at that time. Several students in the class always lack energy during class and cannot complete their homework. Later, they found out that they sneaked to the small shop at the school gate at noon to 'store their phones' and play games. ”Teacher Zhang from a middle school in Sansui County mentioned the phenomenon at that time, with a tone full of helplessness. "Children rush into shops as soon as they finish school, and some don't even eat, just to play with their phones for a while. Not only do their grades decline, but they also become restless and disinterested in learning." The abnormal behavior of the students has also made some parents feel suspicious. The child always asks for pocket money under the pretext of buying study materials, only to realize later that all the money is used to rent and store mobile phones, "said a parent frankly." We try our best to discipline them at home, but these shops are 'helping' and indulging, which is too helpless. "" These shops are neither regular internet cafes nor traditional communication stores, which department should be in charge? ”Faced with this emerging chaos, although the school has carried out propaganda and education multiple times, the results have been minimal; The education regulatory authorities are also caught in the awkward situation of "visible but uncontrollable": on the one hand, the education departments do not have enforcement power over commercial properties, and even if schools strictly control mobile phones, commercial properties can still be rented without delay; On the other hand, due to the unclear industry attributes of mobile phone rental and storage, there is insufficient basis for administrative penalties, making it difficult for market supervision, urban management, cultural and sports broadcasting and other departments to take effective measures. Do we have to watch helplessly as the achievements of teaching and educating people are eroded by the commercial interests at the school gate? Faced with this new problem of protecting minors, the Sansui County Procuratorate took the initiative to "break through the situation": first, it urged the county market supervision and management bureau, cultural, sports, radio, television and tourism bureau and other departments to carry out joint law enforcement, and promoted relevant laws and regulations to more than 20 merchants; On April 19, 2024, merchants were urged to sign a commitment letter on not renting or lending mobile phones to students and providing mobile phone storage services. However, during the follow-up "rectification review" conducted by the procuratorial organs, it was found that three shops still committed crimes against the wind, continuing to provide mobile phone rental, storage, and paid internet services for students on campus. The three-level linkage cracking of qualitative difficulties and the continuous prohibition of violations means that the rights and interests of minors are still being violated. The procuratorial organs are keenly aware that it is possible to pursue the infringement liability of relevant shops by filing a public interest lawsuit? But the problem arises, is it within the scope of public interest litigation for shops to provide paid mobile phone rental and storage services to minors? How to define the consequences of social welfare damage? To clarify these issues, the Sansui County Procuratorate has repeatedly invited the County Market Supervision and Administration Bureau, Culture, Sports, Radio, Television and Tourism Bureau, Public Security Bureau and other departments to hold special seminars. The participating units unanimously agree that such behavior not only disrupts students' daily routines, affects their academic performance and school management, but also poses multiple risks such as cyberbullying, harmful information erosion, and telecommunications fraud, which must be rectified in accordance with the law. In order to accurately analyze this new clue in the public interest litigation for the protection of minors, the procuratorial organs of Guizhou Province have launched an integrated case handling model guided by the provincial procuratorate, led by the state procuratorate, and hosted by the county procuratorate. After multiple studies and judgments, it was finally clear that the essence of merchants providing mobile phone rental and deposit services to minors was to "engage in Internet access services in disguised form", and there were violations such as out of scope operations and unfair competition. According to the Juvenile Protection Law, this behavior infringed on the physical and mental health of unspecified minors and had the attribute of public interest. On November 15, 2024, under the guidance of the higher-level procuratorate, the Sansui County Procuratorate filed a civil public interest lawsuit and formulated a precise evidence collection plan: more than 300 questionnaires were distributed to schools for investigation. The results showed that 89% of the respondents believed that such behavior endangered the healthy growth of children. A homeroom teacher also revealed in an interview that "there was a student in the class who originally had good grades, but due to using a storage phone to play games, their grades dropped by 200 students in one semester"; At the same time, the Three Lives Family Education Research Institute in Huangpu District, Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province was commissioned to issue an evaluation opinion letter to demonstrate the causal relationship between "addiction to mobile phones" and "truancy and disinterest in learning" from a psychological perspective; In addition, key evidence such as payment records of operators, online records of students, and complaint materials from administrative agencies were also collected. When more than 300 questionnaire data, 27 inquiry records, and expert evaluation reports are placed on the table one by one, the fact that illegal shops infringe on the rights and interests of minors has become clear and distinguishable. On May 19, 2025, the People's Procuratorate of Qiandongnan Prefecture filed a civil public interest lawsuit with the same level of people's court, requesting three illegal shops to "stop infringing and publicly apologize in the media". On September 28th, the Intermediate People's Court of Qiandongnan Prefecture held a trial of this case, and three defendant shops agreed to the prosecution's lawsuit request in court and reached a mediation agreement. When the dignity of the law meets the transformation of education, when rigid punishment is integrated with flexible repair, the political, social, and legal effects of public interest litigation are organically unified in this case. ”The prosecutor in charge of the case summarized it as follows. The completion of the case is not the end point, but the starting point for building a long-term protection mechanism for minors. Taking this case as an opportunity, the Qiandongnan Prefecture Procuratorate, together with public security, market supervision, cultural and tourism, education and other departments, formulated the "Special Action Plan for Campus Surrounding Environment Improvement" and carried out a six-month special rectification. During the operation, the procuratorial organs shared the list of problems sorted out from the case with the administrative law enforcement departments, and conducted a comprehensive investigation of key places such as shops, internet cafes, stationery stores, billiard rooms, and custody centers around primary and secondary schools in their jurisdiction; Punish shops that violate regulations, food safety, traffic safety, fire safety, and other issues in accordance with the law, comprehensively eliminate safety hazards, and promote the expansion of "individual case governance" to "comprehensive rectification". At the same time, multiple departments have strengthened institutional constraints: jointly issued the "Initiative to Prohibit Providing Mobile Phone Rental and Storage Services to Minors" and carried out special legal publicity; Promote market regulatory authorities to include "rent ban and storage ban" in the annual inspection standards for commercial properties; Post promotional posters in shops around the campus; Establish a "home school inspection" tripartite supervision group, receive real-time reports of violations, and form a closed-loop management of "discovery disposal follow-up". From filling regulatory gaps to solving governance difficulties, the procuratorial organs of Qiandongnan Prefecture have used the "surgical knife" of public interest litigation to accurately remove the "lesions" that infringe on the rights and interests of minors. With the "combination of supervision, education, and system", they have achieved a leap from individual case handling to similar case governance, and from judicial protection to social protection. This case not only provides a replicable and promotable sample for solving the problem of minors' internet addiction, but also contributes prosecutorial wisdom to improving the comprehensive judicial protection system for minors. (New Society)