Kakao says 'no' to prosecution

Civic group members condemn Kakao, the operator of the nation's most-used messenger service Kakao Talk, for providing user data and communication history to the prosecution in a press conference in front of Kakao's office in central Seoul, Oct. 13, 2014. / Yonhap

By Lee Kyung-min

Kakao will no longer provide users' telecommunications records to law enforcement authorities, the company said Sunday.

The operator of the nation's most-used messenger service Kakao Talk said that it would reject the prosecution's request to provide records of chat history, voice memos and video clips stored on its server, belonging to those the prosecution believes are criminal suspects. With a warrant, such data had been made available in full within three to seven days.

The announcement came after the Supreme Court ruled last Thursday that illegally gained data could not be recognized as evidence.

Under the law, the top court said, authorities' monitoring of telecommunication data is only allowed on messages being exchanged on a real-time basis, therefore communication history that is no longer active is not valid as legal evidence.

The prosecution strongly criticized the court ruling, saying its investigation capacity will be greatly restricted due to what it called blind decisions that fail to reflect reality.

Given that proving allegations largely relies on Kakao data records due to shortfalls in current technology, with which real-time wiretapping is impossible, violent and serious crimes including sexual assault, murder, robbery and espionage would be much more difficult to prosecute, it added.

The firm's reversal in its stance comes a year after it announced it would fully cooperate with the prosecution last October. The move was seen as caving to the authorities at the risk of compromising user privacy by helping the prosecution make arbitrary decisions about who it should monitor.

The move to cooperate resulted from a year-long struggle that reached its peak in October 2014, when then Kakao Talk co-CEO Lee Sir-goo vowed to push back against the authority's "cyberspace surveillance" by announcing that he would reject prosecution warrants for monitoring even if it meant him being subject to criminal prosecution.

At the time, the public fear against surveillance of online users soared after a minor opposition lawmaker claimed that he was informed about the police seizing his Kakao Talk communication history with 3,000 acquaintances from a four-month period, three months after the seizure.

Following the revelation, Kakao Talk users went on a so-called "digital migration," quickly switching to other messenger applications to seek better protection. German-based Telegram was one of the most popular alternatives.

A dispute between authorities and private enterprise over public security and privacy occurred early this year.

In March, the U.S. government and iPhone manufacturer Apple were engaged in a legal battle over whether to help investigators gain access to an iPhone used by a mass shooting suspect in California.

While the U.S. government argued that Apple's cooperation could help prevent terrorist attacks, privacy advocates and the company said it would create easy access for the government in future investigations as well as for malicious hackers.

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