Controversy over the Korean Night Detective Service (prostitution access information)

Intrdouction of Night Detective

I would like to introduce news related to nightlife detective service in South Korea.

 

What is 'Night Detective'?

 

Recently, as the so-called 'Nightlife Detective', which confirms the contents of men's access to red light districts, has become popular again, it is sparking a gender conflict in some areas. Some men expressed injustice, and there were even cases of breaking the marriage. The certain lawyers advised that the nightlife detective service itself is highly likely to be illegal.

https://www.segye.com/newsView/20181125000581

Nightlife Detective is a website that appeared 4 years ago. It has become a hot topic among couples and spousers as an web service that confirms the records of a lover or spouse's access to a prostitution.

 

The someone check the records of access to brothels is that if they request through a social networking service (SNS) such as Telegram or Kakao Talk open chat rooms, they will inquire the records of access from the database used by the brothels owners.

https://www.joongang.co.kr/article/23048613#home

If you deposit 100,000 KRW, you will be informed of the database (DB) usage record for a specific phone number within 10 minutes, and if you pay 300,000 KRW, the record will be deleted.

 

Damage caused by inaccurate information

 

In the midst of this, there was also a man who complained of injustice. Recently, the man also filed a complaint against “Night Detective”, stating that Nightlife Detective had provided his girlfriend with false prostitution details, which eventually led to her breakup.

 

There are a lot of controversy over the personal information provided by Night Detective. The Night Detective is often pointed out that the information is inaccurate because it contains information from unknown sources, such as customer information actually collected by brothels and a list of phone numbers created for the purpose of attracting customers.

 

For example, it is known that it contains so-called randomly collected numbers, such as personal information obtained through hacking or phone numbers of vehicles parked near the brothels.

 

For this reason, there are cases where some people have conflicts over the Nightlife Detective. An office worker, Mr. Kim, said, "There seems to be a problem with the DB obtained with inaccurate information, as if entering a brothel and stigmatizing it socially."

 

On the other hand, there are other opinions. Ms. Park, an office worker woman, said, "In the end, it's okay if you're proud of yourself," she said. There is also an argument. “The website is illegal in the first place, so the government should block it quickly to prevent social conflict,” said Mr. Choi.

 

Issues of personal information disclosure

 

Nightlife Detective also have legal problems. Legal officials may be accused of providing personal information without consent and violating the Information Protection Act, etc. Also, a person who asks Night Detective to confirm that a husband or boyfriend has entered a brothel can also be punished.

 

This is because, under the current law (Article 59 of the Personal Information Protection Act), 'persons who have processed or processed personal information', who are not personal information controllers, are prohibited from providing personal information that they have learned in the course of their work without a customer’s consent.

 

In fact, in 2018, there have been many cases where those who operated as Nightlife Detectives were handed over to trial and convicted on charges of violating the Information and Communications Network Act.

 

Person A was sentenced to 10 months in prison and 2 years of probation for providing records of access to prostitution to a total of 489 clients from August to October 2018. He or She was also ordered to collect more than 23 million KRW. Person B and C were handed over records of access to prostitution 9911 times in a year from September 2018, and were sentenced to 3 years and 6 months in prison and 1 year in prison, including fraud and blackmail, respectively.