Many lawmakers use privacy filter on mobile phones

“I can’t defend myself if anything inappropriate is caught.”

A ruling Saenuri party official recently put a privacy filter on his mobile phone screen. With the black film on the handset screen, what is displayed cannot be seen from outside except for the front. It is a measure to protect text messages from being captured in press photos.

The ruling party insider said on Friday, “If I press a text message and something weird that pops up is captured in a media photo during a plenary session or a standing committee meeting, I can neither defend myself nor make any excuse. It is better to block any possibility by using the privacy filter.” The party official has been actively spreading words about the privacy protection film to other lawmakers.

In fact, a lawmaker from the ruling party was captured in a media camera while he was looking at a nude picture with his handset at the plenary session of 2013. A New Politics Alliance for Democracy lawmaker’s private text messages were openly disclosed by press pictures.

Lawmakers finished their own analysis that the second and third rows from the end are the most vulnerable among the seats in the plenary session room. Mostly, deputy floor leader and his aides, and secretary generals of standing committees sit in those rows. Since the seats are close to photographers sitting in the second floor, what they have on handset screens are easy target to be captured.

A deputy floor leader of the Saenuri Party who is using privacy protection film said, “It is not easy for the press to capture the handset screen if I sit in the front rows. But it is easy to capture if I sit in rear rows. I pay a lot of attention whenever I read something on my phone, when sitting in the back seat.”

However, private filter gives some disadvantage, too. A lawmaker said, “The film is not thin and it feels dull to touch something on the screen. The dark film also makes it harder to see a text message in the midst of sunlight in a sunny day.”