ALTERNATIVE WAYS TO LEAVE VISITOR RECORDS

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These days amid the pandemic, people need to write down their contact or go through QR code verification to leave visitor records. There are privacy concerns and it's also uncomfortable for those who are not digital-savvy. To address this issue, one local government has launched a phone call verification service. Take a look.

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At the entrance of a shopping mall. Customers make phone calls as instructed by an employee. If the call generates no dial tone and gets disconnected, this means the customer has been properly verified to enter the facility. It is unbelievably convenient.

[Soundbite] JEONG HEE-SEUNG(GOYANG, GYEONGGI-DO PROV.) : "It's convenient and safe. I just call this random number. I think it's a brilliant system."

The city of Goyang in Gyeonggido Province introduced this so-called "safe call" service. When customers dial up a phone number uniquely designated to each business establishment, their contact information, as well as the time and location of their visits are automatically recorded by the City Hall server. That data is automatically deleted after 4 weeks. Goyang city is introducing the service on a trial basis first at venues frequented by citizens such as malls, markets and cemeteries.

[Soundbite] KIM WOO-GYU(ILSAN MARKET VENDOR ASSOCIATION) : "There's no risk of privacy leaks and it's also quick. It's useful to both sellers and customers."

This call service is expected to spread to restaurants and academies as well as it helps eliminate the concern of privacy leak and also the inconvenience of using QR codes.

[Soundbite] LEE JAE-JUN(GOYANG MAYOR) : "We came up with the phone call idea believing that all such data can be stored in a public server and then deleted."

The Personal Information Protection Commission has in fact decided to expand the call service to other areas in the near future.