Korean “Digital Refugees”: Controversy over Privacy and Surveillance

By Hojin Choi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

SEOUL, South Korea – On October 13, Lee Sirgoo, the co-CEO of a South Korean company “Daum Kakao,” held a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. He bowed in apology and said that “we stopped accepting prosecution warrants to monitor our users’ private conversations from October 7, and hereby announce that we will continue to do so.” He said that the company will make privacy the top priority of its business when there is discord between privacy and law and added that “if our decision is a violation of the law, I, as the head of Daum Kakao, will bear any responsibilities.” What’s happening in Korea?

Lee Sirgoo, the co-CEO of Daum Kakao, apologizing to the public at a press conference in Seoul, South Korea. (Yonhap)

The Daum Kakao is a company that operates Kakao Talk messenger application. The Kakao Talk is a dominant application in South Korea with 35 million users out of 50 million of the country’s total population. Most cell phone users now communicate with each other through Kakao Talk rather than mere text messaging, and the term “Ka Talk” has already become synonymous with “sending message via phone.”

The controversial issue arose when the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, announced in late September that she was cracking down on the spread of baseless and insulting rumors about the president’s personal life. She complained that such rumors in SNS and on websites are socially divisive and destructive.

South Korean Prosecutor’s Office reacted to the president’s anger immediately. Within two days of the president’s comments, the office held a meeting with social media companies, such as Daum Kakao, Naver, and Nate, and also with other government offices like the Ministry of Security and Public Administration, police departments, and the Korea Communications Commission. As a result, the office officially announced that they will “preemptively respond” to spreading false information over the web by “constant monitoring” the SNS and messenger services. About seven days later, the office launched a special team for the task under the Prosecutors’ Office.

The public erupted into a fury and obvious anxiety. Even worse, a newspaper allegedly introduced a case in which the Daum Kakao recently handed to the Prosecutor’s Office the information of three thousand people’s messages and profiles in relation to an investigation on only one person. The company and the office both denied the article, but the company admitted that the Prosecutor’s Office and the nation’s information bureau regularly request information (conversations between users) through warrants.

The president of South Korea, Park Geun-hye, was recently suffered from rumors on websites and SNS about her personal life. (Reuters)

Based on a long history of distrust of governmental authority since the nation’s military dictatorship, the public started leaving the Kakao Talk and seeking for a “digital asylum.” So far, over 400,000 users have deserted the service, and, within a week, 1.5 million Koreans newly joined a German messenger application, Telegram. This application has no server in Korea and its functions are focused on privacy security. Accordingly, the app encrypts conversations between users and also has a function that automatically deletes the messages a moment after users read them. Now, the forerunner company of Daum Kakao, Daum Communications, is also suffering in the stock market as well as losing its users. The stock fell by over 20% in just three days.

Considering these side effects, the company made the decision not to obey law enforcement by ignoring warrants and compliance requests. The co-CEO of Daum Kakao, Lee Sirgoo, announced regrets that “Daum Kakao failed to understand such anxiety of users of Kakao Talk, bringing the issue to the current state.” He also announced further efforts to regain users’ trust by promoting privacy protections. The company will form an “Information Protection Advisory Committee” composed of outside professionals and modify its message-storage policy, such as reducing from 7 to 2-3 days of keeping users’ conversations in its server and encrypting them.

For more information please see:

YONHAP NEWS – Daum Kakao apologizes over security controversy – 13 October 2014

The Wall Street Journal – Maker of Korean Chat App to Ignore Legal Demands for Users’ Messages – 13 October 2014

Gadgets – Korea’s Kakao Talk Vows to Protect User Privacy – 13 October 2014

BBC – Why South Koreans are fleeing the country’s biggest social network – 9 October 2014

BBC – akao Talk says ‘no’ to South Korean government demands – 14 October 2014

Malaymail – Privacy before law, vows South Korea’s Kakao Talk – 14 October 2014

Australian Orders Investigation into Allegation of Abuse at Nauru Refugee Facility

By Max Bartels 

Impunity Watch Reporter, Oceania

 

Canberra, Australia

Asylum seekers attempting to reach Australia are intercepted by Australian border agents and sent to one of two refugee camps, either on Papua New Guinea or Nauru. The UN and other human rights groups have heavily criticized this Australian immigration policy. The conditions in these refugee camps are reported to be below standards and the refugees have little hope of getting clearance to enter into Australia. Adding to the scrutiny of these camps, it has recently been reported that there are accusations of sexual abuse and other forms of misconduct by Australian immigration guards against refugees held in the Nauru facility.

Demonstrators shout slogans against the government during a rally in support of asylum seekers in central Sydney
Rights groups protest the Australian Immigration polices. (Photo curtesy of Al Jazeera)

The Australian Minister of Immigration, Scott Morrison, has ordered an investigation into the accusation. The accusations against the guards of the facility are reported to include requiring sexual favors for female refugees to use the showers and forcing children to engage in sexual acts for entertainment. Morrison has stated that if true these acts would be abhorrent and would work to completely undermine Australian immigration policy. There have been additional reports that employees of service providers for the Nauru center have been misusing reports, encouraging the use of children in protests and coaching those detained on the island to engage in self- harm. Morrison has stated that whatever their political views, the reports of these employees encouraging protests and self- harm are unacceptable.

Many children on Nauru have engaged in the practice of sewing their lips together and refusing food or water in protest for their indefinite detention in the camp. Morrison stated that 10 workers of the Save the Children Charity have been removed from working on the island. Both Morrison and the charity deny any allegations that these employees had anything to do with the sexual abuse or misconduct investigation. It has been reported that Save the Children was the first to report the children sewing their lips together.

The investigation is not being undertaken by the Australian immigration agency but by a independent party. The interim report of the investigation is due to be issued in several weeks and the full report by the end of the year. At the present moment there is a finger pointing battle between the government and other groups working on Nauru as to who is responsible for the alleged abuses.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera — Australia Probes Sexual Abuse Claims on Nauru — 3 October 2014

Yahoo News — Australia Orders Inquiry into Nauru Refugee Camp — 3 October 2014

Reuters — Australia to Probe Sexual Abuse Claims at Nauru Refugee Center — 2 October 2014

BBC News — Australia Orders Inquiry into Nauru Abuse Claims — 3 October 2014