Lee Chul-jae and Ser Myo-ja report:
Two companies and two of their officials were indicted yesterday on charges of illegally collecting personal information about customers through a software application for smartphones.
According to the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office, indictments were filed against TomatoTV, the distributor of the smartphone application, and its developer, Semaphore Solutions Inc.
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Prosecutors said the application, eTomato Stock Master, provides real-time updates of the Korean stock market. The program was distributed from March to May through the Android smartphones app store.
Through the application, prosecutors collected 83,416 items of private information, including mobile phone numbers, International Mobile Equipment Identity and USIM numbers without the users’ authorization.
The International Mobile Equipment Identity, or IMEI, is a number used to identify a mobile phone, and USIM numbers store user subscriber information, authentication information and other private information.
Read more on Joong Ang Daily.
Hat-tip, @YourPrivacy