Personal Information Protection Commission Establishes Privacy Principles and Standards for Smart Cities

[Asia Economy Reporter Eunmo Koo] The government has presented principles and checklist items for personal information protection that must be followed when building and operating smart cities.

The Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) announced that it has prepared the "Smart City Personal Information Protection Guidelines" and discussed them at the plenary meeting on the 8th.

A smart city is a new concept residential area that supports citizens to enjoy a convenient and pleasant life by solving urban issues such as transportation, environment, and housing based on ICT. However, due to the nature of smart city services operated on the basis of large-scale data utilization, concerns about misuse of personal information have been continuously raised.

The PIPC drafted the guidelines by reflecting the results of research projects conducted last year and discussions by a research group composed of academia, legal experts, industry, and practitioners, and collected opinions from related ministries including the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to prepare the current guidelines.

Looking at the main contents of the guidelines, first, six major personal information protection principles such as lawfulness, purpose limitation, and transparency necessary to guarantee residents' privacy and human rights were established. Considering the characteristics of smart cities that provide resident services by linking and analyzing large-scale personal information collected and accumulated diversely by function such as administration, transportation, and welfare, the guidelines require applying privacy-centered design from the planning and design stages of smart cities.

Furthermore, in accordance with the Personal Information Protection Act and the six principles, 16 checklist items to be inspected during the personal information processing process are presented in six stages to ensure clear implementation of personal information protection. In addition, through interviews with smart city practitioners, issues related to personal information protection encountered in the field were identified, and related regulations were specified for each issue, with examples provided to enhance practical usability.

The guidelines discussed on this day are scheduled to be disclosed within this month after reflecting the results of the plenary meeting discussions, and will be continuously updated to reflect amendments to personal information protection laws and changes in the technological environment.

Park Sang-hee, Secretary General of the PIPC, said, “The PIPC will widely share the contents of these guidelines with related institutions and industries, play the role of a watchdog to ensure that personal information processed in smart cities is strongly protected and safely utilized, and support the successful establishment of smart cities that are still in the early stages of construction.”