Key facts
- South Korea's gender equality ministry is considering legal action against Google.
- The action is due to the alleged leaking of personal data of digital sex crime victims.
- The exposed information was deleted after requests from the ministry and the Korea Communications Standards Commission.
- Google apologized and stated it was not their principle to share victims' personal information.
SEOUL, Sept. 9 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's gender equality ministry is contemplating legal action against Google over allegations of leaking the personal data of victims of digital sex crimes. The personal information was reportedly exposed on a foreign research project website that collaborates with Google. The data was only removed after the ministry and the Korea Communications Standards Commission intervened and requested its deletion.
Google has since apologized to the victims, asserting that it is against their policy to share victims' personal information with such websites. The company stated that it had requested the website operator to delete the information as soon as it was brought to their attention.