Background
An accommodation booking platform was hacked, exposing the booking and personal data of several hundred thousand people. Some users even received threatening text messages exploiting the leaked data, causing serious distress and anxiety. Changchun represented the affected users in group litigation.
What Was at Stake
There were two issues: whether the platform had taken proper personal data protection measures, and how the harm caused by the breach would translate into an award. In data breach cases, individuals find it hard to prove the extent of their harm, and awards are often small as a result.
How Changchun Helped
Changchun (attorneys Kyungseok Park, Jaesun Yoon and Jonghoon Kim) highlighted that accommodation booking data is particularly sensitive, going to the heart of private life, and made active use of the statutory damages provision of the Network Act — which allows victims to recover a set amount without proving each element of their loss individually — and of the purpose behind its enactment.
The court awarded up to KRW 400,000 per person depending on the degree of harm — the highest amount in any case establishing a violation of that Act. It is a significant judgment holding a party clearly to account for a sensitive data breach in group litigation, an area easily neglected as "not worth the money." (Related coverage: Economy Chosun article) (Outcomes depend on the facts of each case and may differ.)