SEOUL– The Constitutional Court on Thursday struck down a law allowing mobile carriers to provide customers’ personal data to law enforcement authorities without notifying the affected people.
The Telecommunications Business Act states that mobile carriers can accept the request of investigative authorities, such as court officials or prosecutors, to collect personal data including name, resident registration number, and address.
The law does not mandate that the mobile carriers inform users when their information is given to the authorities.
But the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday that the clause is “in discord with the Constitution,” in a unanimous vote, saying that the law violates the right to self-determination of personal information.
When an act or a law is ruled to be in discord with the Constitution, the law remains effective temporarily in order to prevent confusion in society and to give a grace period for the legislative branch to come up with a replacement.
The court said the ruling “does not mean acquiring communications data itself is unconstitutional, but that not coming up with measures to notify affected people when acquiring communications data is unconstitutional.”
The constitutionality was challenged by a number of local civic groups, including Lawyers for a Democratic Society, or Minbyun, in 2016.
Source: Yonhap News Agency