Open Net participated in a workshop titled “Consumer Data Rights from Japan to the World” on October 08, 2023. See here for full transcript and video.   

Hongki Yun presented the cases of Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission 

Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission ordered corrective measures and imposed penalty surcharges to Meta and Google in 2022. 09. 14. The commission imposed surcharges of 69.2 billion Won to Google and 30.8 billion Won to Meta for violating the Personal Information Protection Act. The Commission found that Google and Meta collected behavioral information of their users when they visited and used other websites or applications, and used such information for customized advertising without obtaining proper consent. This disposition is the first penalty related to the collection and use of behavioral information by online customized advertising platforms, and the largest penalty for violation of personal information protection law.

 Google did not clearly notify its users about collection and use of third party behavioral information when users join their service. And hid it under the “more options,” setting the default value to “consent.” Meta’s notification was difficult to access and only vaguely described in the preface of its data policy. Meta obtained consent when users created their accounts, without clearly notifying the details. 

In 2023. 02. 08, the Personal Information Protection Commission imposed another penalty to Meta for requiring its users to provide behavioral data from third parties when joining its service. The Commission stated that customized advertising itself or a platform’s behavioral data collection practices are not prohibited, but third-party behavioral data for the basis of identifying users for customized advertising is not the minimum amount of personal information necessary for the service. Thus, in order to collect such data, Meta should have given its users a choice. 

Meta’s actions of making it impossible for users to sign up or use the services if they refuse to provide third-party behavioral data violates the Personal Information Protection Act and a rectification order and administrative fine were imposed.

Organizer 

Consumers International, Civil Society, Europe(Global) 

Speakers 

• Amy Kato , Consumers Rights Japan 
• Sheetal Kumar, Global Partners Digital
• Minako Morita-Jaeger, University of Sussex
• Diego Naranj, European Digital Rights Initiative
• Lisa Gacrcia, Foundation for MEdia Alternative
• Toshimaru Ogura, Japan Computer Access Network (JCA-NET)
• Damar Juniarto, SAFENet Indonesia
• Masayuki Hatta, Movements for the Internet Active Users MIAU Japan
• Shoko Uchida, PARC Japan / G7 Civil Society lead, 
• Melinda St Louis, Public Citizen