KCC mulls probe of Facebook's collection of call, SMS history

South Korea’s communications regulator is considering opening a formal investigation into the latest suspicion facing Facebook, which has been accused of logging calls and text messages via its Messenger app, according to government officials on Wednesday.

The Korea Communications Commission’s privacy infringement investigation division summoned top officials of Facebook Korea earlier this week to question the purpose of collecting logs of calls and text messages, the scope of the collection and the possible release of the data to third parties.

“We are in the process of finding out facts about the suspicions reported by the media, and we are focusing on whether Facebook has received users’ permission to collect the data or not,” said a KCC official. 

“We will embark on an investigation if we find any aspects that may be in violation of the country’s privacy protection law,” she added. 

On Sunday, Facebook acknowledged that it began uploading call and text logs from phones running Google’s Android system in 2015 -- first via its Messenger app and later through an option in Facebook Lite, a stripped-down version of its main app.

This came after a Facebook Messenger app user who is a programmer in New Zealand tweeted last week that he found his call history from an archive of Facebook, and raised the issue of whether Facebook’s actions had received users’ permission.

Facebook did say that only users who gave permission were affected and that it did not collect the content of messages or calls. It added that users could opt out of the data collection and have the stored logs deleted by changing their app settings.

However, without permitting the option, users cannot use the Messenger app.

Following the announcement, three users of the Facebook Messenger app sued Facebook with a federal court in the Northern District of California on Tuesday, saying the social network violated their privacy by collecting logs of their calls and text messages.

Facebook explained on its newsroom page that call and text history logging is part of an opt-in feature for people using Messenger or Facebook Lite on Android.

“People have to expressly agree to use this feature,” the statement said. “If, at any time, they no longer wish to use this feature they can turn it off in settings, and all previously shared call and text history shared via that app is deleted.”

At the KCC, Facebook Korea said it clarified how the call log collection works and emphasized the actions had acquired users’ permission.

“The key question by the KCC was regarding the permission part,” a Facebook Korea spokesman said. “We actively explained how a user can permit or reject access under the settings.”

The Facebook official mentioned there are many ambiguous areas in the Korean personal information protection law, but he is certain that Facebook Korea’s actions were not in violation of the law.

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)