South Korea immigration shares travellers' facial data without consent

Documents released by South Korea's government revealed the country's Ministry of Justice was sharing the facial images and personal details of travellers using Seoul's Incheon International Airport with local commercial companies.

The data involved approximately 170 million travellers, and was obtained without their consent. It was being shared to help develop a government system for screening and identifying travellers.

South Korea's Personal Information Protection Act determined that the sharing of sensitive personal data with third parties requires the specific and separate consent of the data subject.

Local civil liberty activists threatened to take the government to court on the issue.

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• https://www.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1016107.html

• https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1016279.html

• http://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/e_national/1018763.html

• https://www.vice.com/en/article/xgdxqd/south-korea-is-selling-millions-of-photos-to-facial-recognition-researchers

• https://www.biometricupdate.com/202110/seoul-shares-face-biometrics-of-170m-travelers-with-private-firms

• https://www.biometricupdate.com/202111/rights-groups-demand-halt-to-south-korea-facial-recognition-surveillance-project

• https://www.reddit.com/r/tech/comments/qfe996/s_korean_government_provided_170m_facial_images/

• http://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?Seq_Code=165030

• https://aitopics.org/doc/news:9ED1FC50

• https://www.20minutes.fr/high-tech/3162131-20211101-la-coree-du-sud-fournit-170-millions-d-images-faciales-a-des-entreprises-privees