Facebook agrees to improve data protection for Koreans

The state media regulator Korea Communications Commission said Thursday that the U.S.-based social networking site Facebook agreed to improve its individual information protection measures for Korean users.

The KCC said that Facebook stated that it will devise separate measures which follow the country’s information and telecommunications law by the end of March.

The event takes place after the state regulator put in a request to Facebook last month to submit data on how it plans to improve services which aim to protect one’s private information on its site.

The number of Korean Facebook users reached 3.46 million out of 596 million global users as of December, said the KCC.

According to the KCC, the globally popular social networking site will have to get approval from Korean users and report the purpose and duration of use to them, if it wishes to offer the individual’s information to a third party.

Facebook’s privacy policy, which is now only offered in English, will also be provided in the Korean language, it said.

“We would say it’s a positive factor that Facebook has decided to cooperate with us to protect the privacy of local users,” said a KCC official. “We’re planning to build a channel which could negotiate such details to direct other global players to abide the Korean law and to level-up the efficiency of individual information protection policy.”

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)