Subscribe
E-Paper
.jpg/dims/resize/740/optimize) |
| SantaCruise Company CEO Kim Ho-jin poses at his office in southern Seoul. Established in 2008, the company is the nation's first online reputation management firm. / Courtesy of SantaCruise Company |
Proper use of social media should be educated
By Lee Min-hyung
The removal of online postings, photos and video clips is becoming ever more complicated for internet users in this wired society. The internet does not forget anything about people's personal lives, and this has brought about a years-long dispute over the "right to be forgotten." The notion made headlines in 2014 when a European court ruled individuals have the right to ask for portals to remove their personal data from the web.
A growing number of online users continue to suffer traumatic experiences from private data left on the internet.
The rise of globally-dominant internet giants such as Google and Facebook has added to the concerns over internet privacy. This is because billions of their user bases allow a private internet post to spread across the globe instantly.
The sprawling nature of the internet makes it harder for individuals to erase their past. This has brought forth such jobs as "digital undertakers" whose primary work is to delete clients' personal data for good.
Businesses concerned with the right to be forgotten are booming in Korea, driven by the growing influence of the internet and big data.
SantaCruise Company CEO Kim Ho-jin said the growth potential for the market remains high especially in Asia where fewer people realize the importance of the right to be forgotten unlike in European countries.
The company, established in 2008, is the nation's first online reputation management operator — not just for individuals, but also corporate clients.
"It's important for the government to introduce strong legal measures and punishment for those who spread others' private information," he said. "But this is just a temporary solution. Much more important is to include cyber privacy education in elementary, middle and high school curriculums."
He said teenagers make up half of his firm's customers, with most of them having little information about the "proper use of networking."
"The internet came to town about two decades ago, but few people have been educated about basic internet etiquette, regardless of whether they are teenagers or adults."
Even if users block their personal photos or posts on the web, they can be spread via hacking or their acquaintances he said.
Kim cautioned that, therefore, users should be careful and cautious before posting anything on the internet.
Promising outlook
When customers contact digital undertakers, they use a big data program to find all the relevant data that clients want to erase from the web.
Kim said a group of his employees then list all the sites left with clients' records, and ask each of the homepage managers to delete the data. The cost of the company's services ranges from 100,000 won ($87) to millions of won, depending on the number of posts.
"This can be a huge financial burden for customers such as teenagers," the CEO said. "The government should set up specific legal guidelines to support victims who suffer particularly from online pornography or hidden cameras."
Digital undertaking is not the only business model here, with countries such as the United States, the Netherlands and Japan having slightly-different yet similar ones, according to Kim.
"In particular, Yahoo Japan introduced its Yahoo Ending service in 2014, which deletes a user's online data upon his or her death," he said.
Regardless of country, he remained optimistic for the growth of the online reputation management industry.
"The rapid rise of big data may make it harder for us to do business, as more and more datasets will spread on the web down the road," he said. "But our technologies will also develop and demand for the service is expected to surge, unless the internet disappears or the smartphone-led digital industry goes back to the 2G feature phone era."
