Provided Over 2.85 Million Communication Records to Investigative Agencies in the Second Half of Last Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Seolgina Jo] In the second half of last year, the number of telecommunications data provided by the telecommunications industry to investigative agencies such as the prosecution, police, and National Intelligence Service was approximately 2.85 million, showing a decrease compared to the previous year.

On the 15th, the Ministry of Science and ICT disclosed the "Status of Telecommunications Data and Communication Fact Confirmation Data Provided, and Cooperation in Telecommunications Restriction Measures by 104 Telecommunications Operators, including 75 Period Telecommunications Operators and 29 Value-added Telecommunications Operators for the Second Half of 2019." Compared to one year ago, the number of telecommunications data and communication fact data provided decreased, while cooperation in telecommunications restriction measures slightly increased.

First, the telecommunications data provided to investigative agencies totaled 2,855,129 cases, which is a 3.4% (101,701 cases) decrease compared to the same period last year based on the number of phone numbers.

Telecommunications data refers to basic personal information of subscribers to telecommunications services such as wired, wireless, and internet, including name and resident registration number. Investigative agencies request this data by official documents under the Telecommunications Business Act for prompt criminal investigations such as verifying victims of voice phishing or kidnapping, and obtain it from telecommunications operators.

The number of communication fact confirmation data provided, which refers to simple details such as call and text transmission times rather than communication content, was 183,930 cases, a decrease of 240,571 cases (23.5%) compared to the same period last year.

On the other hand, the number of 'telecommunications restriction measures' cases, targeting voice call contents and emails, was 2,363 cases, an increase of 31 cases (1.3%) compared to the same period last year.

By agency, the prosecution accounted for 984,619 cases, the police 1,782,088 cases, the National Intelligence Service 19,122 cases, and other agencies 69,300 cases. By communication means, mobile phones were the most frequent with 432,136 cases, an increase of 23,597 cases compared to one year ago. Wired phone cases decreased from 42,312 to 36,884 cases.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.