Government introduces 6 principles for personal information protection in Smart City

The Personal Information Protection Commission (Chairman Yoon Jong-in) has prepared "Personal Information Protection Guidelines for Smart City."

The Personal Information Protection Commission drafted the guideline based on the research service that was promoted last year, and the guidelines presented by collecting opinions from related ministries such as the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs were first applied to the 'Privacy by Design (PbD)' from the planning and designing period, considering the characteristics of smart cities providing residents' services by linking and analyzing large-scale personal information.

The reason why the guidelines for protecting personal information in smart cities are prepared is that the smart cities have been constantly raising concerns about misuse of personal information produced in citizens' lives due to the nature of services operated based on the use of large amounts of data so that citizens can enjoy a convenient and pleasant life by solving traffic, environment and housing problems in cities based on advanced information and communication technology (ICT).

The Personal Information Protection Commission prepared a draft based on the results of the research group discussion, which was conducted last year, and the results of the research group consisting of academics, lawyers, industry, and practitioners.

Smart cities link and analyze large-scale personal information collected and accumulated in various functions such as administration, transportation, and welfare, to provide service for residents. That is why 6 principles have been introduced, making Privacy by Design (PbD) be adopted from the planning and designing stage of smart cities.

According to the Personal Information Protection Act and the six principles, 16 items to be checked in the process of personal information processing were also presented in six stages so that personal information protection could be clearly implemented.

Through interviews with working-level officials in smart cities, personal information protection issues were discovered, related regulations were specified for each issue, and practical utilization has been presented.

After reflecting on the results of the plenary session, the Personal Information Protection Commission will unveil the final "Smart City Personal Information Protection Guidelines" in December and plans to continuously update them to reflect changes in the technology environment.

Park Sang-hee, the director of the Personal Information Protection Commission, said, "In smart cities, personal information, collected in various ways throughout everyday life, is accumulated and processed on a large scale, which can lead to privacy infringement such as monitoring and controlling residents if misuse of personal information happens." "We will communicate the guidelines widely with related organizations and industries and play a role as a watchdog to protect and safely use personal information processed in smart cities. “We will help smart cities in the early stages of construction to be successfully settled,” he added.

Reported by Smart City Today