The Personal Information Protection Commission filed a complaint against the operator of the internet encyclopedia "Namuwiki." Despite repeated requests to submit materials, Namuwiki refused, saying "the headquarters is overseas, so domestic law does not apply."
The Personal Information Protection Commission said on the 27th that it held a full meeting on the 26th and reported Namuwiki operator umanle to investigative authorities for violating Article 63 of the Personal Information Protection Act.
Namuwiki is a representative Wikipedia-style service that is more popular in Korea than the global online encyclopedia Wikipedia. By website traffic, it ranks around fifth in Korea, showing significant influence.
However, the corporation operating Namuwiki is registered with an address in Asuncion, Paraguay. People Power Party lawmaker Kim Jang-kyom said, "Namuwiki, which has its headquarters in Paraguay, makes it difficult to identify the beneficial owner and operator and is cleverly evading domestic law," and introduced the so-called "Namuwiki transparency bill" to require overseas platforms like Namuwiki that have been in a blind spot of the existing system to designate a domestic agent for reporting and to notify the Korea Media and Communications Commission.
An official at the Personal Information Protection Commission explained the background for reporting the case to investigative authorities, saying, "It is clear that Namuwiki provides services targeting Korea, yet it claims that the laws of a particular country apply and refused repeated requests from the Personal Information Protection Commission to submit materials."
Meanwhile, on the same day at the full meeting, the Personal Information Protection Commission issued a corrective order to Starbucks' U.S. headquarters and others for excessively collecting and processing personal information of employees at domestic suppliers.
Earlier in 2023, the Personal Information Protection Commission received a complaint that "Starbucks is excessively demanding personal information of employees at domestic suppliers" and launched an investigation. The investigation confirmed that Hong Kong-based Elevate, a partner of Starbucks' headquarters, ran an "ethical sourcing program" that handled employees' personal information and excessively processed that information. During the evaluation, it transmitted personal information files, such as employees' ages and whether statutory working hours were observed, outside the companies.
Starbucks' headquarters was found to have been lax in its management and oversight of this. The commission also found that Starbucks' headquarters contracted work to Elevate without complying with the Personal Information Protection Act.
Accordingly, the commission issued a corrective order to Starbucks' headquarters to comply with the Personal Information Protection Act when entrusting personal information processing work and to manage and supervise the processor. It also issued a corrective order to Elevate to refrain from processing personal information without a legal basis.
A commission official said, "We will monitor the results of the corrective order's implementation, and if it is not followed, we will impose fines and take other actions."