30/09/2024, 15:37 Open Net Welcomes the Constitutional Court’s nonconformity decision on warrantless subscriber data access but Anonymous Free Speech … the information collected was limited (e.g., names, addresses, etc.). The Court overlooks the fact that citizens lose their freedom of anonymous communication the moment they make telecommunications under such a legal system. The extent of privacy infringement upon disclosure of subscriber identifying information is no different than that of a warrant for search and seizure because it does not end at the acquisition of identifying information but reveals to the investigative agencies one’s involvement in telecommunications. For example, not only are users’ Kakao Talk nicknames and identifications matched but also the otherwise private fact that the user is participating in a Kakao Talk chat with persons under investigation is revealed. In addition, operators such as Naver and Kakao have had the practice of providing identifying information only upon presentation of a court order, and there is nothing to indicate that such practice hampered related investigations. This means that there is an alternative means to achieve the public need for investigation while satisfying the warrant requirement, and thus it is doubtful that an inquiry under the minimal impairment principle has been fully conducted. It is rather worrying that that Naver and Kakao may start to cooperate with warrantless provision of subscriber identifying information. Through litigation and public campaigns Open Net, together with People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD), has created a legal environment where users could compel the operators to disclose the records of access to subscriber identifying information. Open Net has also successfully lobbied for the 2015 UN Human Rights Committee who issued a Concluding Observation on Korea recommending adding the warrant requirement, the 2016-2017 Third-Party Intervention https://www.opennetkorea.org/en/wp/3710 4/7