"MyData Era... Comprehensive Consideration of Data Protection and Economic Aspects Needed" (Summary)

2021 Joint Conference on Economics
Professor Jeon Seong-in's Policy Task Presentation

"Establish a management organization and manage in a dual structure" also suggested

[Asia Economy Reporter Seong Giho] As the era of Personal Credit Information Management Business (MyData), which can integrate scattered financial information, has begun in earnest, there have been calls for systematic management and supervision of the personal data industry. This is due to concerns that conflicting policy directions are mixed, which could potentially cause harm to individuals. To address this, it is advised to separate the management of personal data from the perspectives of protection and economic aspects, and to establish a new supervisory organization.

According to the financial sector on the 8th, Professor Jeon Seong-in of the Department of Economics at Hongik University made this suggestion during his presentation on "Policy Tasks for the Development of the MyData Industry" at the '2021 Joint Economics Academic Conference' held on the 5th. This academic conference is an event where 53 academic societies participate, 1,000 economists present about 400 papers, and engage in discussions. This year, it was held online due to the impact of COVID-19.

Professor Jeon pointed out that the biggest problem in the current personal data industry is the coexistence of conflicting policy directions: one aiming to protect personal information as an economic good subject to trade, and the other attempting to obscure property rights under the pretext of deregulating personal information.

He explained, "The legal nature of personally held data is ambiguous," and "The economic compensation for allowing personal data aggregation is unclear, resulting in a structure where most benefits from personal data utilization are monopolized by the final demanders."

To improve this, he emphasized that the following should be established: △principled prohibition of additional information processing beyond the original collection purpose △principled prohibition of profiling aimed at describing specific individual attributes △expansion of the scope of transmission request rights △expansion of the scope of deletion request rights.

Regarding future policy tasks, he stated that △property rights over personal data △introduction of a tentative 'Personal Information Brokerage Company' responsible for personal data aggregation and sales mediation △reorganization of the regulatory system concerning protection and utilization of personal data are necessary.

In particular, Professor Jeon suggested that for protecting personal privacy, the 'Personal Information Protection Commission' should be responsible, while protection from the financial consumer perspective should be handled by the financial market supervisory organization.

He explained, "The overall department for personal data regulation should be unified under the Personal Information Protection Commission," and "A 'Personal Information Brokerage Company' responsible for investment and trading of personal data should be introduced and managed by the financial market supervisory organization."