Personal Data to be Deemed Destroyed Once Turned into Unrestorable Anonymous Information

(image: Kobizmedia/ Korea Bizwire)

SEOUL, Feb. 9 (Korea Bizwire) — In a move to cope with the change in the technological environment brought on by the emergence of blockchain services, personal data that cannot be deleted permanently will be deemed as being destroyed if it is turned into unrestorable anonymous information, the state watchdog on personal information protection said Tuesday.

The Personal Information Protection Commission announced that it will make an advance legislation notice from Wednesday of the revision of the Personal Information Protection Act.

The revision will focus on improving the method of destroying personal information by reflecting the characteristics of new technology such as blockchain.

Blockchain refers to a distributed data storage technology that is a kind of digital ledger connecting transaction-recording blocks like a chain and copying and storing them on numerous computers.

Accordingly, there are some cases where personal information cannot be permanently deleted, making it difficult for related companies to destroy data when the retention period expires.

Against this backdrop, the commission established legal grounds to deem personal data turned into unrestorable anonymous information as being destroyed in cases when its permanent deletion is impossible due to technical characteristics.

J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)