Korea Bans Collection of National Resident Registration Numbers on the Web

Korean websites won't be able to collect or use their users' National Resident Registration Numbers from this August.

Korea Communications Commission (KCC) promulgated on 17th the revised Law of Utilization of the Web and Privacy Protection. The revised law will be in effect from August 18th this year.

Following the law, corporations cannot collect or use Korea's National Resident Registration Number on the Web. Companies have to eliminate the information within 2 years from the effective date of the new law if they have National Resident Registration Numbers stored.

In addition, Korean web service providers have to immediately notify corresponding users when their personal information is lost/stolen/leaked; They also have to regularly inform their registered users the history of the use of their personal information.

In order to avoid the failing and proceed the new law smoothly, KCC plans to collect extensive opinions by public hearings and etc.

An official of KCC expressed, "We expect that the revised law will be a good initiative that better protects our citizens' important personal information as well as improve corporations' privacy protection level."