[The Editors' Verdict] The Era of MyData: The Role of the Private Sector

The era of MyData, where 'I' exercise control over the data 'about me' that 'I' generate, is rapidly approaching. The Financial Services Commission is currently reviewing applications from 35 institutions, including financial companies, fintech (finance + technology), and big tech (large technology) firms, for MyData business licenses. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety is promoting public MyData, which allows citizens, as data subjects, to utilize their personal information held by administrative and public institutions for various public and private service benefits. The recently proposed Data Basic Act also introduces MyData (personal data management business), which integrates personal data and provides it to the data subject as a commercial activity. Ultimately, MyData is expected to be introduced across all sectors, including finance, public, and general non-financial fields.

The data portability right, which is the premise of MyData, is the right to request that companies transfer personal data they hold to the data subject themselves or a third party designated by the data subject. This was first stipulated in the European Union's (EU) General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in 2018. However, Europeans have a low understanding of data portability rights, and companies are not proactive, resulting in sluggish progress in this business, whereas Korea is the world's first country to actively promote MyData.

For successful business promotion, consideration of the following two points seems necessary. First is the recognition of the importance of the role of private companies in MyData. When the EU introduced data portability rights, it stated four objectives. First, to strengthen the data subject's right to self-determination and rebalance power between the data subject and personal data processors. Second, to promote the free movement of personal data within the internal market. Third, to enhance online users' service choice rights and promote competition among digital service providers. Fourth, to foster data-driven innovation.

Ultimately, the approach to data portability rights primarily focuses on strengthening the rights of data subjects, but it also emphasizes other goals such as data movement, competition promotion, and innovation. However, it can be said that private companies lead the realization of these three goals. By providing thorough explanations and guidance to data subjects to support the exercise of data portability rights, developing related infrastructure and services, and delivering tangible benefits to consumers, private companies effectively lead the MyData ecosystem and determine the success of the business.

Secondly, the public sector holds the largest amount of personal data, including key data related to individuals' privacy, making it the sector most likely to produce successful MyData cases. Utilizing public data can make the provision of various government support and welfare benefits more efficient. Additionally, innovative services can continuously emerge based on public data. Services such as health management based on family medical history and subscription recommendation services based on various public information can be provided. However, the current public MyData is being operated directly by the government, limiting the scope of data distribution and the purposes of use.

The government needs to consider allowing personal data to be freely distributed according to the judgment and requests of data subjects, providing data while enabling the private sector to implement services using the data.

The data industry and economy based on MyData is an area that no country in the world has yet dominated, and we can become the first mover in this field. The key to success is the cooperation and effort of the government, companies, and citizens. It is especially important not to forget to support the ideas and innovative will of the private sector.

Seong-Yeop Lee, Professor at Korea University Graduate School of Technology Management and Director of the Technology Law Policy Center