KCC to investigate Google over unlawful data collection

Posted on : 2017-11-25 15:51 KST Modified on : 2019-10-19 20:29 KST
Company insisted on collecting location information without user consent to improve quality of message services

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) has launched an investigation into allegations that Google collected location information from Android smartphone users without their consent.

Over 80% of South Korean smartphone users have Android phones, while location data is considered sensitive personal information. The data’s collection without consent is criminally punishable as a violation of personal information self-determination rights.

KCC announced on Nov. 23 that it had summoned representatives from Google Korea for questioning on the allegations.

“Going ahead, we plan to carefully examine whether location information for Android smartphone users was collected and used without their consent, as well as to cooperation with international efforts as we determine the investigative responses to this issue in the US, the European Union, Japan, and elsewhere,” the commission said.

Previously, the US website Quartz reported that Android smartphones had been relaying location information to Google servers in real time without the user’s consent since the beginning of 2017, confirming that the transmission took place “even when location services are disabled.”

To maintain calling capabilities, mobile phones communicate at regular intervals with nearby mobile communications towers. The reports mean that recently tower information transmitted by Android smartphones has been sent in real time to Google’s servers.

Information about the towers where mobile phones send their signals can be used to identify the user’s location to within a radius of a few hundred meters. Police have used this approach to narrow scope when identifying the locations of callers on mobile devices in rescue and other emergency situations. The information is also used in targeted advertising for smartphone users in particular areas.

Google acknowledged updating its Android smartphone program to send the location information.

“We tested technology to improve the quality of our message services, and that included a capability that allows sending Google’s servers smartphone information that was recently transmitted to towers,” Google Korea explained.

“But the Google servers did not store the tower information received from smartphones or use it for purposes,” it added.

Google Korea added that the “decision has been made not to use this technology, and we are updating the program to exclude it.”

“It will be fully updated within November,” the company said.

Google was previously charged over 210 million won (US$193,000) in KCC penalties after being found to have collected wireless LAN (Wi-Fi) information without consent when developing its Street View photo-based map service in South Korea in 2014. In Oct. 2017, a malfunction in its artificial intelligence (AI) speaker Google Home Mini was found to have resulted in the random recording of user conversations at home.

By Kim Jae-seop, staff reporter

Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]

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