Rising Anxiety Over Stalking Crimes in the 'Kim Taehyun Incident'... Women Buying Shredders and Making SNS Private

How to Delete Personal Information Posted on SNS [Image Source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Sumi] Recently, methods for personal protection have been actively shared mainly on social networking services (SNS). This is because anxiety about personal information leakage has increased even more after Kim Taehyun (24), the suspect in the Nowon three mothers murder case, testified that he identified the address by looking at the delivery box in a photo carelessly sent by the victim.

On the 10th, many posts appeared on Twitter and other platforms, including 'certification' posts stating that they purchased small document shredders at stationery stores to destroy documents containing personal information such as delivery invoices or receipts, and posts sharing methods to erase the information written on delivery invoices.

For example, some said, "You can erase the invoice details by spraying acetone or perfume," or "Using a roller stamp to paint over the invoice and erase the contents is more reliable." There were also many cases where people used pseudonyms instead of their real names or received deliveries at different locations to avoid exposing their home addresses.

Additionally, the number of people trying to erase personal information disclosed online is increasing. Kim (28), an office worker, decided to effectively close the SNS account he had used since college to interact with acquaintances.

Kim said, "I rarely used it, but when I logged in after a long time, I was surprised to find too much information publicly available, including my alma mater and photos of the neighborhood where I live," adding, "I thought that if someone intended to harm me and dug into my information, they could find out too easily, so I switched my account to private."

Kang (26), who lives alone in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul, said, "After hearing that Kim Taehyun was not in a relationship with the victim and had only met her a few times, I thought anyone could become a target of stalking crimes," and added, "Even very small information like messenger profile pictures being exposed to strangers made me scared about my privacy being revealed."

The fear women feel has increased further after the Kim Taehyun case, which showed the seriousness of typical stalking crimes. Experts say that social systems and policies to alleviate anxiety must be supported.

Professor Yoon Kim Ji-young of the Department of Philosophy at Changwon University advised, "Anxiety about crimes against women such as stalking should not be left as an individual behavioral issue but should be addressed collectively by local governments and the state," adding, "It could be a way to supplement the non-prosecution clause of the Stalking Punishment Act to be enforced in September this year, and for local governments to introduce various policies for single-woman households."

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