The Personal Information Protection Commission (Chairperson Song Kyung-hee) announced on November 20th that it held its 23rd plenary session and deliberated and resolved the preliminary adequacy review results of the ‘Spam Number Blocking System’ submitted by the Ministry of Science and ICT (Minister Bae Kyung-hoon) and the Korea Telecom Operators Association (KTOA).
Recently, with the increase in illegal spam messages leading to electronic financial scams such as phishing and smishing, more than half of these illegal spam instances originated from mass messaging services. It was found that a significant number of these messages were sent using canceled, suspended, or unallocated numbers fraudulently modified. In response, the Ministry of Science and ICT is in the process of developing a ‘Spam Number Blocking System’ as part of the ‘Comprehensive Measures to Prevent Illegal Spam’. The KTOA is responsible for building and operating this system as the entrusted institution.
The ‘Spam Number Blocking System’ operates by receiving telephone number status information (such as activation, suspension, cancellation) managed by telecom operators and creating a comprehensive telephone number database (DB) and an invalid number DB, handled by KTOA. When a large-scale message sending request is made, the three mobile telecommunications companies will match the sending number against the invalid number DB and only allow its dispatch if the number is verified as valid.
The information processed in this system includes the telephone number, telecom operator, and status (valid or invalid), but does not include personal identification information like names. However, as the number itself constitutes personal information, there needed to be a legally compliant processing procedure in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act.
The Personal Information Protection Commission has determined that telecom operators can establish and operate this system in order to fulfill their legal obligation to prevent illegal spam under the Telecommunications Business Act and to prevent imminent harm to public legal interests. Moreover, the Ministry of Science and ICT has been advised to explicitly state KTOA’s position as the entrusted institution in the law or subordinate regulations to ensure the legal foundation for the project’s continuation.
The commission agreed on several points: ▲ KTOA must conclude a personal data processing consignment agreement and strictly adhere to the consignment requirements as stipulated by Article 26 of the Personal Information Protection Act, ▲ the legal status and responsibilities of the entrusted institution should be clarified to ensure the stability of system operation.
This deliberation and resolution have laid the foundation for verifying the validity of domestic wired and wireless (including prepaid phone) originating numbers. The commission expressed its expectation that this measure would make a substantial contribution to curbing the illegal spam sending structure through mass messaging services and to preventing property damage to the public.