(image: Kakao Mobility)
SEOUL, Feb. 8 (Korea Bizwire) — Kakao Mobility Corp., the nation’s leading taxi-hailing service, was fined Wednesday for inappropriately requiring users to agree to provide personal information to a third-party company.
The Personal Information Protection Commission said it decided to impose a fine of 6 million won (US$4,760) on the company for violating the personal information protection act and order corrective measures.
Kakao Mobility, affiliated with tech giant Kakao Corp., was found to require users of its Kakao T app to consent to provide personal information to a third party for a future self-driving taxi-hailing service, which it is preparing to launch.
The company refused to provide the existing taxi-calling service to users who do not give such consent.
Kakao Mobility listed the purpose as identifying users and managing and operating overall services.
The description practically allows the company to pass their information to third parties not only for the planned autonomous taxi service but also for the current cab-hailing operation, the commission found.
The panel judged the practice violates the law that requires accurate notification of the purpose of use of customer information.
The panel said it is also inappropriate to require private information for a business that has not started operating.
(Yonhap)
