The government is reviewing legal action against Google, which leaked the personal information of victims who requested the removal of digital sex crime content.
On the 11th, Minister Won Min-kyong of the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family held a "briefing on the leak of Google digital sex crime victim information" and said, "If violations are confirmed, corresponding legal responsibility must be borne," adding, "The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, together with the Korea Media and Communications Commission and others, is closely reviewing the Act on Punishment of Sexual Violence Crimes, the Telecommunications Business Act, and the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection."
The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family confirmed on the 25th of last month that some information submitted by digital sex crime victims in the process of requesting Google to delete illegal recordings was disclosed without authorization on an external site. To minimize secondary harm, the ministry demanded that Google and the external site delete and block the victims' personal information, and carried out an emergency block through the Korea Media and Communications Commission. However, it took 13 days for the entire request history to be deleted.
Minister Won said, "This is not a matter that can be brushed aside as a simple system error or mistake," and added, "Google must take the gravity of this issue seriously and show a responsible attitude before the victims and the public."
She added, "If a platform like Google wields enormous influence worldwide, it bears an even greater responsibility to protect and handle victims' sensitive information safely," and "We will monitor to the end whether Google's recurrence prevention measures are prepared effectively and actually implemented."
Minister Won said, "Regardless of any commitment (on preventing recurrence), we believe Google's legal liability may be established," adding, "If such an incident occurs again despite the commitment, heavier responsibility will be imposed."
On the 9th, Google sent an official letter containing a commitment that all deletion request materials received in Korea would not be shared externally. It then released an official stance, saying, "We sincerely apologize for causing concern to victims and the public due to the unintentional exposure of information."