The controversy surrounding U.S. tech giant Google Inc. and its reported collection of personal information of South Korean online users has entered a fresh round after a local civic group pursued an appeal with the court to make Google headquarters and its Korean unit disclose details on to what extent local users’ information has been shared with third parties.

According to multiple sources from the information technology industry on Sunday, six activists from Korean civic groups including Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice launched litigation action last Thursday with the Seoul High Court demanding that Google Inc. and its local unit Google Korea disclose records of personal information that has reportedly been shared with third parties. In the latest appeals trial, civic groups are expected to focus on proving Google Korea’s legal responsibility over the reported privacy issue, which the local unit last year was relieved from a court decision from any obligation to disclose records through its claim that it is not bound by the local law. Civic groups also plan to hold a press conference arguing Google Korea’s wrongful behavior.

Yang Hong-seok, an attorney representing the civic groups, said that Google Korea is a value added telecommunications service carrier that provides web search service and is registered as a location-based service and information service operator. He said that it is hard to accept that the company does not have any legal responsibility when it is operating in Korea.

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country’s media watchdog, has also launched its own investigation into whether or not Google Korea is an operator that is subject to the Korean law from an administrative perspective.

“It isn’t right to shift all the service-related responsibility to the Google headquarters even though Google Korea is the one that is registered as a location information service and location-based service operator,” said a KCC official who asked to be unnamed.

The KCC’s latest investigation is seen as a move by the government to firmly respond to operation issues in Korea including service operation involving global IT companies. Up to now, the local units of IT giants like Apple Inc., Google, and Facebook Inc. have escaped any legal responsibility with regard to their main operations, saying that “their headquarters are responsible for service operations.”

The result of KCC’s investigation into Google Korea is expected to affect the local operations of other global IT companies. Currently, Facebook and Apple operate in Korea under their respective Korean unit after registering as a location-based service operator. The KCC official said that the legal and administrative status of global IT firms operating in Korea is somewhat vague, and that the KCC will have an in-depth look into the privacy issue from the perspective of protecting the rights of local web users. So far, the KCC had concluded such privacy-related issue based on the location of the server - whether it is based in Korea or overseas.

The legal battle over the privacy issue involving Google dates back to 2014 when civic group activists filed a privacy suit against the headquarters of Google and Google Korea and demanded the company disclose information on whether or not it shared personal information of users with third parties. The suit was filed after explosive whistle-blowing by U.S. Security Agency subcontractor Edward Snowden on the existence of PRIMS, surveillance by the U.S. agency by collecting information on customers data from the U.S. and outside from U.S.-based Internet and telecommunications companies. Google Korea declined to comply with the demand saying it is only engaged in ad and marketing activities, not responsible for any service operations in Korea. A local court last year ordered the Google headquarters to disclose the details while turning down the plaintiff’s demand on the same obligation on Google Korea.

By Lee Sun-hee

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