“The fact that over 10 million accounts, which accounts for 20 percent of the population, were passed over to authorities is deeply concerning.” (image: KobizMedia/ Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Oct. 28 (Korea Bizwire) – A recent report has revealed that investigative authorities peeked into online communications information of over one million citizens in 2015 from Korea’s two major web portals – Naver and Daum.
According to the 2016 Internet Transparency Report from the Clinical Legal Education Center (Korea University), the two Internet giants were subject to 13,183 search warrants, during which 1,032,033 account records were handed over. The information included communication history and content, in addition to personal information.
The report estimated that a total of 3 million Internet account records and intelligence on 10 million communications service users were seized in 2015, given that Naver and Daum account for some 35 percent of Korea’s online accounts and 8 percent of communications services.
Meanwhile, authorities were also found to have wiretapped 323 accounts of all communications services in 2015, 98 percent of which were by the National Intelligence Agency.
“The fact that over 10 million accounts, which accounts for 20 percent of the population, were passed over to authorities is deeply concerning,” said a CLEC official. “The government must exercise its power within reasonable boundaries.
In response to the latest report, an official from the Korean National Police Agency said the two web portals demanded warrants “even for basic account information and communications history,” urging them to issue search warrants, and that there’s rarely a case where they “actually look into conversational details.”
By Joseph Shin (jss539@koreabizwire.com)
