The police are investigating suspicions that a prosecution employee illegally took private personal data from a prosecution computer network. The employee is accused of stealing data he came across in the course of a prosecution investigation and using it for an illegal debt collection business he was a partner in. The police think that he engaged in that behavior not only while employed at the prosecution but also after he stopped working there, when he would get the data from some of his former co-workers.
Regular citizens are feeling very insecure these days because of frequent instances where personal information gets leaked. It is even more shocking to learn that private data was secretly removed from the prosecution, which is responsible for protecting people's civil rights. One cannot help but feel insecurity and a sense of betrayal to learn that the prosecution had "hired a cat to watch the fish market." One worries about the level of awareness regarding the protection of the public's private personal information when other employees are also thought to have been involved. Furthermore you wonder if that only happens with the prosecution. Indeed, last March there was a case where personal information on mobile phone users was compromised, and in that case police officers were involved.
Korea is an especially high risk country for leaks of personal information, since the whole populace has Resident Registration Numbers concentrated with the national government and with government agencies well connected to that data by computer network. A massive quantity of information can find its way into the wrong hands in a single incident, and it would be hard to compare leaks from government agencies with leaks of private information collected by commercial interests. That is why civil servants have to possess more thorough awareness about the need to protect private personal information than anyone else.
One really hopes to see this case to be used as an opportunity to uproot private information leaks by civil servants. The prosecution must not be uncooperative in this police investigation in the hopes it can "protect one of its own." Also, the National Police Agency handles data no less sensitive than the prosecution, and so it, too, should work to prevent similar occurrences by reviewing its personal information protection situation.
The Hankyoreh, 12 July 2005.
[Translations by Seoul Selection (PMS)]
[Editorial] Prosecution Employee Steals Private Information |
