By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff Reporter
Internet users will be allowed to erase data about themselves at Web sites that they believe are abusing their personal information, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC) said Tuesday.
The state-run Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) will provide a section in its Web page (https://p-clean.kisa.or.kr) that will provide users with a list of Internet sites they have subscribed to and allow them to pick sites they want their personal information deleted from. KISA will later provide an update on the termination process and confirmation after about four weeks.
The service will be provided for a month starting Wednesday, and will require users to submit their I-PIN numbers, a personal verification system for online users, pushed by the government as an alternative for resident registration numbers, a 13-digit code that identifies birth date, sex and registration site.
``The services will allow Internet users to erase their personal information on Web sites they haven't visited for a long time, or other sites they suspect of abusing their personal information and providing it to third parties without their consent,'' said Ah Yeong-hoon, an official from KCC's privacy protection bureau.
``There have been an increasing number of data theft and security breaches reported here, which is connected to the excessive amount of private information kept at Internet companies,'' he said.
``However, it's has been hard for the individual to track all the Web sites he or she had subscribed to and delete their personal information. Many Internet users will also be surprised to find their personal info kept at sites they have never used before, which are likely to be results of privacy abuse,'' he said.
The country has been rocked by a slew of data theft cases in recent months. In the most recent scandal, employees of GS Caltex were arrested for downloading the personal information of more than 11 million customers onto CDs and attempting to sell them on the black market.
And in a bizarre incident last month, more than 900 wireless subscribers of SK Telecom were exposed as their names, credit card numbers, bank accounts, resident registration numbers, home addresses and phone numbers were provided as a Google search result.
There has been criticism that poor control of private information is inevitable when companies are requiring subscribers to provide them with an extensive amount of data.
The KCC has been investigating Internet companies, such as NHN and Daum, over their managing of subscriber information, but the companies are also accusing the regulator of sending mixed signals.
In a confusing policy plan announced in August, the KCC said it will mandate Internet portals to erase the resident registration numbers of users who have since un-subscribed to their services and reduce the amount of personal information required in their subscription contracts.
However, the KCC also demanded the Internet sites to strengthen their personal verification system to curb ``cyber bullying,'' which was denounced by critics as a step back in terms of freedom of expression.