Agency says the Web is quite a leaky place

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Agency says the Web is quite a leaky place

The Internet seems to be a pretty leaky place for private information about Koreans. The Korea Information Security Agency said yesterday that it had found an array of Internet sites where personal information about subscribers, including citizen registration numbers, was readily available. The agency asked Internet users for information about such sites from Nov. 13 to 24. Over 260 Web sites were reported, including Internet shopping malls, fortune-telling sites and alumni sites. For example, if a certain John joined one of these sites, anyone can go one of numerous search engines ― Google, Naver, Yahoo or Empas ― and search on the name. Chances are you will come up with John’s personal information such as his citizen registration number, the most commonly required identification card in Korea. In other words, these Web sites lack systems to prevent the information of their subscribers from being visible to others. “Web sites that specialize in providing personal information put that information on display only after getting your approval,” an official from the agency said. “These sites did not. They are obliged to take measures to protect their subscribers’ personal information.” The agency also reported finding 35 Web sites that did not allow subscribers to delete their membership even though the subscribers wanted out. Including Web sites that did not notify users who was responsible for managing personal information or what steps were needed to end a subscription to the site, 3,600 Web sites were reported to have problems in member privacy protection, the agency said. It said that it would conduct more investigations of the Web sites that were reported and would slap administrative penalties on those with serious faults. The agency said it would make the one-time solicitation of privacy problems a regular campaign so that Internet users would have more opportunity to keep an eye on the protection of their privacy online. by Kwon Hyeok-joo
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