NCsoft Embroiled in Bugging Controversy

A controversy is brewing over whether NCsoft, the nation’s largest online game firm, illegally monitored online conversations without its users’ consent.

“NCsoft permanently closed the accounts of Kang and Yoo, claiming the two used an auto program (which allows users to earn cyber money without having to play the game) in 2005 when playing the game Lineage,” Rep. Park Sung-vum of the Grand National Party said on Tuesday.

In response, Kang and Yoo filed a lawsuit over their frozen accounts and NCsoft submitted eight A4 pages containing the details of their online conversation to the court as evidence.

The submitted document reportedly includes a personal conversation between the two that took place during the trial. The case was decided in favor of NCsoft in January and is now awaiting an appeal.

“According to my inquiry to the Ministry of Justice, NCsoft’s online chat monitoring violates the current communications privacy protection law. Considering that there are over one million users of Lineage, if users’ online conversations are exposed without protection, it can lead to a serious invasion of privacy,” Park added.

In this regard, NCsoft said, “The terms and conditions for use stipulate that the content of online chatting is saved. As it is agreed to by users, it is not illegal monitoring.”

savoring@donga.com