“Importance of Personal Information Utilization Technology Development and Standardization” Personal Information Commission Holds R&D Forum

Discussion on the Development Direction of Personal Information Protection and Utilization Technology R&D

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The Personal Information Protection Commission announced on the 6th that it held an online forum on the "Development Direction of Personal Information Protection and Utilization Technology Research and Development (hereinafter ‘R&D’)" with the participation of related organizations and technical experts.

The Commission has been preparing a roadmap for the next five years (2022?2026) to establish the direction of personal information protection and utilization technology R&D for the first time, and organized this forum to reflect opinions from related industries and experts as well as new technology trends into R&D policies.

The Commission classified Privacy Enhancing Technology (PET) into three areas: minimizing exposure and leakage, safe utilization, and guaranteeing data subject rights, selecting target technologies for the roadmap accordingly. Recent technology trends show that personal information protection and utilization technologies are based on information security technologies that ensure the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of systems and data. They are specialized application-level technologies developed complementarily with information security technologies to prevent misuse and abuse of personal information and to protect the rights of data subjects. Considering this, the Commission selected 11 core technologies and 37 detailed technologies as priority development targets through advisory committee discussions for the three areas.

Before the discussion, experts in each field proposed trends and considerations for future R&D strategies regarding zero-knowledge proof technology, data subject consent and history management technology, de-identification technology, and homomorphic encryption technology. The discussion was chaired by Professor Heung-Yeol Yeom of Soonchunhyang University under the theme "Development Direction of Personal Information Protection and Utilization Technology R&D," with participation from related experts. The Commission plans to finalize the roadmap, including opinions from the forum and expert consultations, and announce it in November.

Choi Young-jin, Vice Chairman of the Personal Information Protection Commission, stated, "To expand the utilization of personal information while ensuring its safe protection, technology development and standardization are of utmost importance." He added, "We will continuously strive to successfully promote technology R&D for personal information protection and utilization according to the roadmap disclosed today."