Personal Information Protection Commission Introduces Best Practices in Proactive Administration Including Original CCTV Footage Review at Daycare Centers

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] On the 26th, the Personal Information Protection Commission, together with the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Ministry of Personnel Management, announced the first half of this year's proactive administrative achievements and best practices for the first time at the Vice Ministers' Meeting's 'Continuing Proactive Administration (Relay) Announcement.' The Continuing Proactive Administration Announcement is an event where agencies attending the Vice Ministers' Meeting share proactive administrative achievements and best practices from each ministry.

On this day, Choi Young-jin, Vice Chairman of the Personal Information Protection Commission, introduced four exemplary cases of proactive administration by the Commission: ▲allowing original viewing of daycare center closed-circuit television (CCTV) footage ▲protecting citizens' personal information from COVID-19 ▲discovering and spreading cases of pseudonymized information linkage ▲extending the viewing period for mobile phone call records.

The Commission first strengthened protection for children using daycare centers through 'allowing original viewing of daycare center CCTV footage.' Until now, there were no clear guidelines on viewing original daycare center CCTV footage, making it difficult for guardians to promptly verify child abuse. Accordingly, the Commission collaborated with the Ministry of Health and Welfare to revise guidelines allowing guardians to directly view original footage when there are signs of child abuse and resolved confusion on the ground through proactive legal interpretation.

Furthermore, to strengthen the protection of citizens' personal information from COVID-19 and alleviate privacy concerns, the Commission actively participated in establishing quarantine policies, continuously promoting inter-ministerial collaboration efforts to balance 'quarantine effectiveness' and 'personal information protection.' First, the collection of names was excluded from the handwritten visitor logs, and exemptions from log creation were made for takeout purchases. Additionally, a unique personal safety number was introduced as an alternative to mobile phone numbers in handwritten logs, and the consent procedure for personal information collection was simplified to promote the use of QR code-based electronic entry logs.

Moreover, through 'discovering and spreading cases of pseudonymized information linkage,' efforts are being made to lay the foundation for the data economy era. To this end, seven pilot projects for pseudonymized information linkage across five major sectors were identified, and a collaborative system for pseudonymized information linkage and utilization was established through working-level meetings for each pilot project, resolving numerous difficulties. This has produced achievements in pseudonymized information linkage such as treatment of cancer complications, analysis of vulnerable groups to spam information, and refinement of credit information models.

Lastly, with improvements to mobile carriers' terms of use, from October 1, the viewing period for one's mobile phone call records will be extended from six months to one year. This is the result of the Commission's recommendation for improvements to mobile carriers to ensure sufficient personal information access rights for data subjects, alleviating citizens' inconveniences through proactive administration.

Choi Young-jin, Vice Chairman of the Personal Information Protection Commission, stated, “Personal information is a field closely related to citizens' daily lives,” and added, “Going forward, while strictly protecting personal information, we will continue to spread a culture of proactive administration that allows safe utilization.”

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