2024 Volume 8 Issue 1 Pages 59-80
As society becomes increasingly digitalized, especially through the Internet, a great deal of personal information is being collected. In such an era, individuals can live in peace only when they are legally guaranteed that information about them will be handled appropriately. The Personal Information Protection Law provides a mechanism to protect personal information for this purpose. However, under the current law, personal information protected here is limited to “information about a living individual”. In other words, after an individual dies, information about the deceased ceases to be personal information under the Personal Information Protection Law and, in principle, is no longer subject to protection.
Under these legal circumstances, this paper discusses whether personal information should be protected even after death, and if so, how it should be regulated. First, court decisions and ordinances concerning the protection of personal information after death will be analyzed. Second, discussions concerning the defamation and the moral rights of the dead, where similar problems exist, will be analyzed. These analyses will reveal the interests to be considered, the options for specific discipline, and the advantages and disadvantages of each.
In conclusion, this paper suggests for the following regulations. (i) In order to protect the personal interests of the deceased, information about the deceased should be protected as personal information. (ii) The rights to demand disclosure should be granted to the surviving family member or person designated by the dead, in accordance with Article 116 of the Copyright Act. (iii) As specific rules, (a) the surviving family member or the designated person should hold the right, (b) they can request for disclosure, correction, and discontinuance of the utilization, unless it is against the will of the deceased, and (c) appropriate time limits should be set for these requests, taking into consideration the unique circumstances of personal information protection.
