Human Rights Commission: "University Students' Public Announcements in Group Chatrooms Constitute Human Rights Violations"

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Gwan-joo] The National Human Rights Commission has ruled that announcing university grades through group chat rooms constitutes a violation of human rights.

On the 14th, the Human Rights Commission accepted a complaint filed by university student A and recommended that the university establish measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring.

In 2019, A filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission, stating that a professor at their university was announcing students' grades in a KakaoTalk group chat. The professor explained, "The grades posted in the group chat were for exams conducted to encourage learning and are unrelated to the final grades for the course."

However, the Human Rights Commission determined that individual grades or scores, if publicly disclosed to others, could affect a person's social reputation, and generally, access to grades is intended for the individual to verify their academic achievement, thus such information is personal data that should be managed to prevent disclosure to third parties.

Accordingly, the Human Rights Commission concluded that publicly posting the names and grades of students, including A, in the group chat exceeded the original purpose of providing guidance necessary for students' learning and infringed upon their privacy and freedom. The commission recommended that the university devise measures to prevent similar human rights violations from occurring in the future.

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