Students arrive at an elementary school in Seoul (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 23 (Korea Bizwire) – As young people grapple with the enduring footprint of their digital pasts, South Korea’s “Eraser Service” has emerged as a lifeline, enabling them to scrub embarrassing posts and personal information from the internet.
The service, launched last year as a pilot program and now in full operation by the Personal Information Protection Commission, has drawn an enthusiastic response from those seeking to reclaim control over their online identities.
Consider the case of an individual referred to only as A, who, as an elementary school student, uploaded challenge videos that were popular at the time to a video-sharing platform.
When he entered middle school, those videos became a source of mockery among his friends.
A attempted to delete the posts but had lost his account information and found himself stymied by the platform’s lack of a domestic customer service center, as it was a foreign company.
It was then that A discovered the government-run Eraser Service. With the friendly guidance of a counselor, he was able to easily remove the posts.
B, on the other hand, had shared couple photos with a girlfriend on a social networking service during high school to document their memories.
After their recent breakup, B sought to delete those posts but failed because he could not recall the password.
Tormented by the fear of the past remaining exposed and his ex-girlfriend’s demands to remove the photos, B eventually learned about the Eraser Service.
Without needing to access the account, he was able to prove the posts were his and have the photos containing his personal information taken down.
According to the Personal Information Protection Commission, since the Eraser Service’s inception in late April of last year, 17,148 requests for post deletions have been received, with 16,518 deletions completed successfully.
In the first four months of this year alone, over 6,000 deletion requests have been made, indicating the service’s growing popularity.
As young people grapple with the enduring footprint of their digital pasts, South Korea’s “Eraser Service” has emerged as a lifeline, enabling them to scrub embarrassing posts and personal information from the internet. (Image courtesy of Pixabay/CCL)
After analyzing the results from the pilot program and gathering feedback from field meetings, the commission expanded the eligible age for post creation from “under 18″ to “under 19″ at the beginning of this year.
The service application age was also significantly broadened from “under 24″ to “under 30,” allowing more people to take advantage of the offering.
The posts containing personal information eligible for deletion include those that reveal identifiable details like names, birth dates, phone numbers, addresses or photographs.
When a deletion request is submitted to the commission, staff members verify the information and request the post’s removal or search restriction from the site administrator. Once the process is complete, the applicant is notified of the outcome.
For posts created after age 19 or those without personal information, the commission guides users on how to delete the content themselves.
“The Eraser Service not only provides tangible assistance in removing online posts but also plays a crucial role in fostering an awareness of self-protecting personal information from a young age,” emphasized Lee Jeong-ryeol, secretary-general of the Personal Information Protection Commission.
He added, “The commission will strive to strengthen the protection of personal information for children and youth, who represent the future of our society.”
The commission plans to operate an Eraser Service booth at the 2024 Korea Youth Expo, taking place from May 23 to 25 in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, allowing participating youths to experience the service firsthand. Alongside the hands-on event, there will also be an SNS authentication and sharing event.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
