Netizens are rallying behind this proposal.
On January 16, KST, Representative Lee Soojin of the Democratic Party of Korea introduced a new bill to restrict private companies such as MOVES and more from biometric data collection.
The bill, which will amend the Personal Information Protection Law, proposes to add biometric information such as fingerprints, facial recognition, iris, palm vein data, etc. to the list of sensitive information subject to processing restrictions. It also stipulates that data collectors must give priority to methods that do not involve the collection of sensitive data to avail their goods and services.
Companies like MOVES, Triple InterparkAND Long live the Republic are among those who intend to implement or have already implemented facial recognition to access concerts and other events. Since the existing law does not specifically address biometric information under the Personal Data Protection Law Enforcement Decree, more precise legal measures are needed to manage the excessive demand for biometric data.
Representative Lee highlighted the need to regulate private companies’ collection of biometric data for services and reiterated that such companies should offer alternatives to facial recognition to access their services. He expressed concern about what kind of consequences such biometric data collection could entail when deepfake crimes are so rampant around the world.
If passed, the new Personal Information Protection Law will allow authorities to charge legal fines to data collectors if customer data is leaked.
Netizens wholeheartedly welcomed this new bill.
- “Well.”
- “This is really necessary.”
- “Please do something about companies that ask fans for excessive personal information during pre-registrations. Why do you have to say fans’ addresses and residents’ registration numbers in front of others?”
- “Good, good.”
- “Please.”
