Businessman who sold personal information DB labeled 'Corona List'... 3 years imprisonment in 2nd trial

'Corona List' Seller Sentenced to 3 Years in Second Trial
Court: "Hard to Find Willingness to Comply... Risk of Recidivism"

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyun Song, Jeongyun Lee] A seller who distributed millions of personal data records under the name "Corona List" was sentenced to three years in prison in an appellate court.

According to the legal community on the 20th, the Daejeon District Court Criminal Division 5 (Chief Judge Kyunghee Lee) overturned the original sentence of two years and six months in prison and sentenced Mr. A, who was detained and prosecuted for violating the Personal Information Protection Act, to three years in prison. The fine of about 78 million won was maintained. Mr. A had previously been sentenced to two years and six months in prison and fined 78.69 million won in the first trial.

The court stated, "The defendant's crime infringes on the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of privacy and the right to control personal information, and there is a high possibility that it could be misused for other crimes such as voice phishing, so strict punishment is necessary."

Mr. A was arrested and prosecuted in January on charges of selling a database containing personal information such as names and phone numbers of unspecified many people through the messenger Telegram from August 2019 to December last year. (Refer to the November 20, 2020 article '[Exclusive] "Selling Corona List"... Distribution of 2 million personal information records') Mr. A received the database from an unidentified person and arbitrarily edited it by entering body temperatures, naming it the "Corona List" and other titles.

Mr. A recruited buyers through social networking services (SNS) and sold a total of about 4.6 million personal information records. He had a history of 13 juvenile protection orders and 8 criminal punishments for special theft, robbery, fraud, etc., and was found to have committed voice phishing crimes during the recidivism period.

The court ruled, "The amount of personal information secretly traded by the defendant for about one year and four months is enormous, the proceeds from the crime are considerable, and the criminal proceeds were used for entertainment expenses, showing very poor criminal nature. The defendant repeatedly committed various types of crimes without any sign of remorse or willingness to comply with the law, and the risk of reoffending appears very high."

After the second trial sentence, Mr. A filed an appeal with the court. Mr. A also appealed the first trial verdict, and the prosecution appealed citing reasons such as inappropriate sentencing.