"Personal Information Leaked Through an Agent”

Once again, the prosecution charged a sergeant Jang (34) of the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of S police station in Seoul with leaking residence information he obtained through the police network to a mobile businessman who is a former policeman, as well as eight other people including a worker at a communications company, Seol (32, female), with disclosing subscribers’ personal information. The prosecution also issued a warrant for the arrest of a duplicator of mobile phones, Lee (42).

The prosecution conducted an informal prosecution of LG Telecom, KT Freetel (KTF), and ©MPC (subcontractor company for Korea Telecom’s customer management), charging them with fines of 30 million to 10 million won.

Leaking Subscribers’ Personal Information—

Lee is suspected of selling about 200 sets of personal data that he obtained from employees at communication companies such as SK Telecom and owners of communications company agencies to 51 service centers nationwide, receiving 100,000 won per item until the last month, after forming a sales network with seven personal information sellers last November.

Lee submitted false procuration forms to a village office, was issued copies of residence registrations for six individuals, which he handed over to his agents.

In particular, it was discovered that Lee knew of Seol’s financial difficulties (she couldn’t afford to pay back her friend, a private money lender), and exploited her situation by making her reveal subscriber’s information. Taking continued advantage of her situation, Lee repeatedly forced her to hand him extracted information.

Another personal information seller and a former policeman, Son is charged with selling 40 subscribers’ information that he got from a worker at a communications company after purchasing each item for 100,000 won January 2004 until recently.

Personal Information Used to Expose Affairs—

An owner of the H agent, Kim has provided clients with subscribers’ information which he obtained from personal information sellers, receiving 200,000 to 300,000 won per item from clients.

In addition, Kim requested the duplication of a specific person’s mobile phone to a personal information seller for 500,000 to 1,000,000 won in order to track someone down after being entrusted with the exposure of their affair.

Lee, the professional duplicator who handled the request, handed over as many as 37 mobile phones with duplicated phone numbers to these sellers using the Electronic Serial Number control program for mobile phones.

Workers at the relevant service centers are said to have disclosed such scenes of adultery through the “find a friend” service, which informs a person of their spouse of partner’s location at every hour.

Personal Information From the Police Network Also Leaked—

A sergeant of S police station in Seoul, Jang is under suspicion for passing citizen’s addresses and residence information over to his acquaintance and former policeman Son through the police network.

It was reported that sergeant Jang leaked two sets of data including a target’s address after Son had requested him for a residence inquiry, saying that he made a trade transaction and wanted to know a business customer’s personal details.

An official of the prosecution stated that according to the investigation, personal information sellers didn’t have a fixed office and were connected by point-to-point networks, adding that a measure to protect customer information should be arranged as subscriber information held by communications companies could be leaked openly without defense and used in crimes.

Yong-Kyun Jeong cavatina@donga.com