By Lee Hyo-sik
Users of Cyworld, the country’s most popular social networking site, and Nate, the third-most visited Web portal, are expected to file compensation suits against the operator of the two sites over the leakage of their personal information.
The Seoul Central District Court said Friday that a 40-year-old lawyer, surnamed Lee, filed a lawsuit against SK Communications on July 29, demanding the company pay him 3 million won ($2,800) in compensation for psychological damage he suffered as a result of the leakage of his private information.
It was the first legal action taken by any of around 35 million users after their ID, password, resident identification number, phone number, home address and other personal information stored on the two sites was leaked by hackers using an Internet protocol address based in China.
On July 28, SK Communications announced that its network was hacked into by criminals who stole the private information of more than 35 million users, the country’s worst security breach ever. Nate has 33 million users, and Cyworld has 25 million.
The number of users for the two sites totals 35 million when excluding overlaps.
In a petition, Lee identified himself as a Nate user, saying that SK Communications failed to protect customers’ personal information, which it should have under the nation’s Information and Telecommunication Act, and Telecommunication Secret Protection Act.
“I have to deal with psychological trauma stemming from the leakage of my private information for a long time. I could suffer more from potential voice phishing and spam email. Thus, I am seeking 3 million won in compensation from SK Communications,” the lawyer said.
The Korea Communications Commission and the company have warned that voice phishing could surge as phone numbers were leaked, adding that spam mail could also increase as email addresses were exposed.
Using the phone number, the voice phishing scammers make a phone call to their victim, posing as police, bank officials or even kidnappers, duping them into sending money to a bank account.
Lee also said large companies should be penalized more harshly than small firms and individuals when they fail to protect customer information.
“Only then, will they change their dubious practice of collecting excessive personal information. They should be severely punished and held financially liable if they sit idly and do little to protect customer information,” he said.
Encouraged by Lee’s move, a growing number of Nate and Cyworld users have expressed in online community cafes and bulletin boards that they intend to take legal action against SK Communication for compensation. Some of the users have even proposed that the victims file a class-action lawsuit, like what iPhone users did against Apple.
Seperately, a Nate user, surnamed Jung, was found to have asked the Seoul Central District Court to force SK Communications to pay him 1 million won in compensation without a trial. He insists his human rights and rights to control own private information were violated by the latest information leakage.
leehs@koreatimes.co.kr