South Korea immigration shares travellers' facial data without consent
South Korea's Ministry of Justice shared approximately 170 million facial images and personal details of travelers using Seoul's Incheon International Airport with private companies without obtaining consent. What happened The government provided facial images, along with information on age, gender and nationality, to private companies to train biometric algorithms for an AI-powered identification and tracking system. The data was collected from both Korean citizens and foreign nationals passing through Incheon International Airport using 88 cameras, 50 of which were capable of facial biometrics. Why it happened The project aimed to develop a system for screening and identifying travelers entering or leaving the country, with the government attempting to justify its actions by claiming that since the images were initially collected for traveler identification, they could be processed by third parties for developing an AI system with the same purpose. What it means The incident was seen to raise serious concerns about the potential violation of privacy rights. South Korea's Personal Information Protection Act requires specific consent for sharing sensitive personal data with third parties. Civil rights groups and opposition politicians demanded the halt of the project, highlighting the need for stricter regulations on biometric data usage and greater government transparency in the development of AI services. System 🤖 Unknown Operator: Ministry of Justice (MOJ); Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT); Incheon International Airport Developer: CUbox Country: South Korea Sector: Govt - immigration Purpose: Identify travellers ; Predict security breaches Technology: Facial recognition Issue: Privacy; Transparency
- Date it happened
- 2021-10-01
- Organisation involved
- Ministry of Justice (MOJ) ; Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT); Incheon International Airport;
- Product, system or model
- AI Identification and Tracking System
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