Editorial: Google’s outrageous disclosure of illegal-filming victims’ personal information

Google passed requests from victims of illegally filmed sexual content, along with their names, ages, workplaces, schools and phone numbers, to a U.S. partner research institute. The information was then made public. It is an intolerable violation that exposed victims to further harm.

The South Korean Ministry of Gender Equality and Family and the Korea Communications Standards Commission asked Google to block or delete 47 victim requests and more than 100 related items after the Hankyoreh uncovered the disclosure. Google removed the posts 13 days after receiving the request.

The company already bears significant responsibility for the spread of illegally filmed material, the editorial argues. Google has displayed website addresses linked to illegal sites prominently in search results, shown related images and automatically generated victims’ names as associated search terms. Victims must also contact Google directly and reveal personal details when seeking removal of the material.

The research institute reportedly began as an archive intended to guard against indiscriminate deletion demands from powerful institutions. But as requests from victims of sexual crimes increased, so did the risk of sensitive information leaking. Such information is clearly protected as sensitive personal data under South Korea’s privacy law, and public disclosure can cause secondary harm.

Authorities must establish whether Google informed victims that their information could be given to a third party and made public, and whether it obtained their consent. Even with consent, identifying details should obviously have been removed. Google reportedly told the ministry that an employee appeared to have made a mistake. That cannot excuse the company. Government agencies and police should determine what happened and whether further harm occurred.