Application Number 2016Heonma388 (Korea Subscriber Data Access)
Privacy International submitted an intervention to the Korean Constitutional Court challenging provisions of the Telecommunications Business Act
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Case name: Korea Subscriber Data Access case
Court: Constitutional Court of the Republic of Korea
Application no.: 2016Heonma388
Status: Open
On 10 April 2017, Privacy International filed an intervention in the Korean Constitutional Court in the Application 2016Heonma388, arguing that Articles 83(3) and 83(4) of the Telecommunications Business Act violate the rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
The abovementioned provisions grant the Korean government wide-ranging powers to seek and obtain subscriber-identifying information from telecommunications business operators, including subscriber names, addresses and ID numbers. By making it lawful for telecommunications operators to turn personal data over to the government upon request, the Act undermines the anonymity and anonymous speech of Koreans, and enables authorities to tie identifying information obtained under the Act to other sources of personal data, facilitating serious interferences with the rights to privacy and freedom of expression.
The ruling of the Constitutional Court is currently pending.