A cell phone retailer in Seoul / Yonhap
The science ministry reaffirmed Wednesday that no knowledge will probably be saved beneath a brand new coverage mandating real-time face recognition when registering a brand new cell phone quantity, dismissing issues over privateness.
The affirmation got here at some point after Korea launched a trial run of the coverage Tuesday, requiring candidates to scan their faces by way of PASS, an identification app extensively utilized by public organizations, which compares the photograph on an identification card with the holder’s precise face.
The transfer, nevertheless, raised issues among the many public, notably as native cellular carriers suffered a sequence of information breaches this 12 months that led to huge leakages of private data or unauthorized cellular funds.
“We’re properly conscious that the general public is worried resulting from a sequence of hacking incidents at native cellular carriers,” the ministry stated in a launch. “Opposite to issues raised by some, no private data is saved or saved, and it’s instantly erased as soon as identification is verified.”
As of Wednesday, round 43,000 folks have participated in a petition filed with the Nationwide Meeting, urging lawmakers to take steps to scrap the coverage.
The ministry stated it’s going to proceed to work with cellular carriers to forestall potential breaches of private data and examine the safety of the face recognition system with related organizations.
Korea will search methods to deal with inconveniences confronted by senior customers throughout the trial run interval forward of the official implementation in March, it added.
The newest coverage got here after the nation unveiled a set of complete measures to combat voice phishing scams in August, together with harder punishment for cellular carriers that fail to hold out enough preventive efforts.
Whereas foreigners usually are not instantly coated by the brand new coverage, because the system at present works solely with resident registration playing cards and driver’s licenses, the ministry stated it’s going to proceed to improve the system to assist identification paperwork utilized by overseas residents.
