The Personal Information Protection Commission Reviews Video Surveillance on COVID-19 Quarantine Data Management Practices

Inspection of Entry Logs, Confirmed Patient Movement Paths, and Mobile Phone Base Station Connection Information

Photo by Personal Information Protection Commission

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heung-soon] The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced on the afternoon of the 16th that it held a video conference with quarantine authorities at the Government Seoul Office to conduct a non-face-to-face on-site inspection of the management status of personal information processed for COVID-19 quarantine.

This inspection was arranged to verify the management status of personal information collected and used to prevent the spread of COVID-19, such as entry logs for multi-use facilities, confirmed patients' movement routes, and mobile phone base station connection information.

The PIPC checked whether personal information protection measures were properly implemented, including excluding names from handwritten entry logs, exempting entry log creation for takeout orders by mask-wearing customers, controlling access to QR code storage servers for electronic entry logs, and installing security programs.

According to the PIPC's "COVID-19 Personal Information Protection Enhancement Measures," since the 11th, handwritten entry logs only require mobile phone numbers and residential city/county/district without names. Additionally, from the 14th, mask-wearing customers placing takeout orders are exempt from creating entry logs.

The PIPC also inspected the status of efforts to delete confirmed patients' movement information remaining on social networking services (SNS) after the public disclosure period on local government websites.

Furthermore, it confirmed that following the Itaewon cluster infection in May, the Seoul Metropolitan Government sent test notification text messages to 10,000 people who had stayed in the area and subsequently destroyed the related information.

Following the on-site inspection, the PIPC and quarantine authorities discussed follow-up measures for the COVID-19 personal information enhancement plan, including mandating compliance with the scope and timing of deletion of disclosed confirmed patients' movement routes and promoting the use of QR codes.

Yoon Jong-in, Chairperson of the PIPC, stated, "Personal information must be safely protected for COVID-19 quarantine to be effective," adding, "We will fulfill the role of the personal information protection control tower so that the public can cooperate with quarantine measures without worrying about personal information infringement."

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