 Internet users enjoy social networking services (SNS) in this undated photo. The services, however, could lead to serious leakage of personal information, the Korea Communications Commission warns. / Korea Times file |
By Yoon Ja-young
Social networking services (SNS’s) are ubiquitous, but users should keep in mind that they are using it at their own peril.
According to the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA), the personal information of users is open to anybody who wants to take advantage of it.
The KISA entered 200 twitter IDs to see how much information it could access about the users.
In 88 percent of the trials, the KISA were able to find the real names of the user. Nearly 86 percent gained access to their friends, and the agency found their photos in 84 percent of the cases. Their location was available 83 percent of the time, and over half of the IDs revealed their hobbies, schedules and family members.
When users have linked multiple SNSs, such as Facebook, Google Buzz, and Me2day, or blogs linked to Twitter, the private information was more widely available. Some even presented information about bank accounts or credit cards. In the case of users who have opened locations through an application, anybody could find out where they are.
“With SNSs rapidly expanding as the core of social media, we determined that there should be some guidelines to prevent negative fallout such as invasion of privacy. We urge users once again to be careful while using SNSs,” a spokesperson at Korea Communications Commission said.
For SNS businesses, the commission recommended that revealing user’s personal information should be minimized at their default privacy setting. Users should be allowed to choose whether to disclose their postings or information, and when they unsubscribe from the service, their postings and information should be completely erased.
The commission also expressed concern about collecting information on user’s friends, such as gathering phone numbers in a contact list. It is crucial to get consent from the user in advance, the commission said.
It also recommended checking whether the third party is collecting or leaking personal information through open application programming interface (API).
The commission had some tips for users as well. Users should be careful in posting their personal information or that of their friends as they can be disclosed to anybody. They should adjust privacy settings since SNS tends to open most personal information by default.
Users should also be careful in adding friends since networking at SNSs means opening more information to the person. Only trustworthy people should be added as friends.
They should give more thought before consenting to personal information usage, as it can be provided to marketers. SNS are likely to offer them more concrete information about users by compiling data about their online behavior.
Users should not forget to turn off the location service when not in use as it can be used for marketing or criminal purposes.
위험을 수반한 소셜네트워킹서비스 사용
어디에서나 소셜네트워킹서비스를 볼 수 있게 되었지만, 이용자들은 자신들이 위험을 감수하고 있음을 잊지 말아야 한다. 한국인터넷진흥원에 따르면, 이용자들의 개인정보가 그것을 이용하길 원하는 누구에게나 노출되어 있다.
한국인터넷진흥원은 200개의 트위터 아이디를 입력함으로서 이용자에 대해 얼마나 많은 정보를 알아낼 수 있는지를 알아보았다. 이 중 88퍼센트에서 이용자의 실명을 알아낼 수 있었다. 86퍼센트에서는 그들의 친구가 누구인지 알 수 있었으며, 84퍼센트에서는 이용자의 사진을 얻을 수 있었다. 그들의 위치파악이 가능한 경우는 83퍼센트에 달했고, 절반 이상의 아이디는 취미, 스케줄, 가족 구성원을 알려주었다.
이용자들이 페이스북이나 구글버즈, 미투데이와 같은 다수의 소셜네트워킹서비스나 블로그를 트위터에 연동시킨 경우, 개인정보는 더 폭넓게 구할 수 있었다. 어떤 경우에는 은행계좌나 신용카드에 대한 정보도 알 수 있었으며, 앱을 통해 위치정보를 공개한 이용자들의 경우, 누구나 그들이 어디에 있는지를 알 수 있었다.
“소셜네트워킹서비스가 소셜미디어의 핵심으로 급속히 확산되는 상황에서 사생활 침해와 같은 부작용을 막기 위해서는 가이드라인을 만들어야 된다는 결론을 내리게 되었습니다. 우리는 이용자들이 소셜네트워킹서비스를 사용하는데 있어 조심할 것을 권고합니다,” 방송통신위원회 관계자가 말했다.
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