A delivery vehicle is parked at a Coupang logistics center in Seoul. According to the retail industry, reports have been mounting online of login attempts, smishing attacks, and other incidents following the “Coupang data leak” episode. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Dec. 10 (Korea Bizwire) — South Korea’s privacy regulator on Wednesday ordered Coupang Inc. to revise its liability exemption clause for data breaches and simplify its membership cancellation process.
The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) issued the instruction after reviewing the company’s terms of service, membership policy and follow-up measures in the wake of its massive data leak.
Last month, Coupang said personal information of 33.7 million customers had been compromised, indicating that data such as names, phone numbers, email addresses and delivery details for nearly all members was affected.
According to the commission, Coupang added a new clause to its terms of use in November stating that it is not liable for damages caused by illegal third-party access to its servers.
The commission said the provision contradicts the Personal Information Protection Act by making the company’s liability for intentional or negligent damages unclear.
The agency added that Coupang had made its account deletion procedure deliberately complex, preventing users from canceling paid memberships until the expiration date.
The PIPC also instructed Coupang to operate a designated task force to address possible secondary damage to users following the breach.
(Yonhap)
