Google must confess in South Korea what information it has shared with the NSA

The court in Seoul has ordered Google to reveal the personal information of six activists in South Korea passed on to intelligence agencies in the US. Korean law requires service providers to respond to requests from citizens to report who data has been shared with.

Six activists in South Korea filed a lawsuit against Google in July 2014 because the search company refused to respond to requests to clarify whether it had shared their personal information with US intelligence agencies. The Seoul court has now ruled in favor of the six, ruling that Google must disclose the list of personal information it shared with third parties, including the NSA. That writes the Korean Yonhap News. However, the court rejected the call of the six for compensation of 3 million Korean won, converted 2330 euros.

The activists belong to the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice, the Korean Progressive Network Center and the South Korean branch of Amnesty International. They pointed out that according to documents released by Edward Snowden, Google shared personal data with the NSA through the Prism program. The unveiling of the Prism program in 2013 caused quite a stir.

“Even if Google’s servers are located in the US or other countries, the company must comply with the law in South Korea when it comes to Korean users,” the CCEJ said in a statement. “Google must therefore respond to requests for information about the leak of sensitive data.”