[News Today] DEEPSEEK LEAKS PERSONAL INFO

[LEAD]
The South Korean government has confirmed that Chinese AI service DeepSeek, did in fact passed user data to other Chinese companies without consent. According to a KBS investigation, about 1.2 million instances of data leakage were uncovered. Once the personal data leak is confirmed, punitive actions against DeepSeek now seem inevitable.

[REPORT]
The South Korean government officially confirmed that DeepSeek transferred subscriber information to a Chinese company without obtaining user consent.

The Personal Information Protection Commission reported that it checked internet addresses and other details to conclude that DeepSeek had leaked user information to TikTok's parent company, ByteDance.

There were about 1.2 million instances of personal information being leaked.

The Korean government is first looking into whether sensitive personal information was leaked.

Authorities believe that Korean users' information was very likely transferred.

Korean authorities are also looking into the possibility that user information was transferred to another Chinese company.

Nam Suk / Personal Information Protection Commission (Feb. 17)
We found out that there were shortcomings addressing concerns about excessive
collection of personal information.

Once the personal data leak is confirmed, DeepSeek would not be able to avoid criminal punishment.

Korea's Personal Information Protection Act stipulates that consent must be obtained when personal information is provided to another party. But DeepSeek never obtained consent from Korean users.

The Chinese AI company could also be fined even if personal information was consigned to another party not for sales purposes but only for customer call center work if they did not properly inform users.

Lee Kwang-wook/ Attorney, Yoon&Yang
The fact that DeepSeek chose Korean agent indicates that it is willing to observe
Personal Information Protection Act. We need to investigate what type
of information was leaked.

As DeepSeek's personal data collection and info leak controversy mounts, the Korean government is likely to announce its investigation findings sooner than anticipated.