"Is Blind Really Guaranteeing Anonymity?"... Stirring Up Over the Arrest of the 'Police Impersonator'

'Armed Threat' Author Arrested Within a Day
Blind "Information Provision Not Possible Due to System"

A man who posted a murder threat impersonating a police officer on the anonymous workplace community 'Blind' was arrested just one day after the crime, raising suspicions among Blind users about the community's guarantee of anonymity.

On the morning of the 21st, a post titled "I will stab someone tonight at Exit 1 of Gangnam Station" was uploaded on 'Blind.' The author's workplace was listed as the "National Police Agency," causing a stir among Blind users who questioned, "Is it true that a real police officer threatened to stab someone?" Moreover, since Blind is a community that guarantees anonymity, there was considerable public opinion that the author could not be identified.

Author of 'Stabbing Threat' Post Appears to Have Used Account Without Permission

A post predicting a stabbing uploaded using the 'Police Agency' account on Blind [Image source=Blind capture]

However, the very next day, on the 22nd, the author, a man in his 30s identified as Mr. A, was urgently arrested near his residence in Seoul. Mr. A was detained on the 24th. Police investigations confirmed that he had never worked as a police officer, nor did any of his family members have current or former police positions. Accordingly, the police believe Mr. A unlawfully used a police officer’s account.

With Mr. A’s arrest within a day, Blind users are now doubting whether anonymity is truly guaranteed within the platform. The police have chosen not to disclose how they were able to identify Mr. A, which has further fueled these suspicions.

Until now, Blind has emphasized anonymity by stating that although users must verify their company email accounts during registration, the information is securely stored by encrypting it as a non-disclosed composite variable. Additionally, the encrypted emails and account information are stored in a separate database, making it impossible to identify the email user from the account information, and even community administrators cannot revert the encrypted email to its original form. Because of this, Blind users have been attracted to the community for its freedom of expression based on anonymity, and as of this year, the number of registered users has surpassed 8 million.

Regarding the recent 'stabbing threat' incident, Blind explained that due to its system, it was unable to comply with the police’s request for investigative cooperation. A Blind representative stated, "While it is our principle to cooperate sincerely with investigations, we do not store any subscriber information internally," adding, "Before we could officially respond to the police’s request for cooperation and inform them that providing information was impossible, Mr. A was apprehended."

In the past, Blind also failed to identify controversial posters. In 2021, when allegations of real estate speculation by employees of LH (Korea Land and Housing Corporation) surfaced, a post saying "If you don’t like it, just quit" was made using an LH employee account, prompting a police investigation. The police even sent a search warrant to Blind’s headquarters in the United States but ultimately failed to identify the poster.

Despite Blind’s explanations, users’ anxieties have not easily subsided. One office worker said, "Since Blind’s headquarters are in the U.S. and servers are overseas, I felt safe expressing criticism of my company anonymously. But after this incident, it seems that anonymity might not be guaranteed if public authorities get involved. I don’t think I can freely criticize my company anymore."

Account Trading Controversy... Professional Accounts Sell for Millions of Won

Meanwhile, controversy over Blind account trading is also emerging. Blind accounts are mainly traded on used goods platforms, with prices typically ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 won per account, but professional accounts such as those of doctors can fetch prices in the millions of won. The purpose of such account trading is often to impersonate employees of large corporations to approach the opposite sex or for business purposes.

In response, Blind stated that it regularly monitors for abnormal usage and takes action accordingly. If abnormal registration is confirmed, the email user is banned from accessing the service and re-registering. If account trading occurs through external platforms, Blind plans to cooperate with those platforms to suspend postings and identify the traders for civil and criminal lawsuits.

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