Personal Information Protection in Digital Era -Reviewing Personal information protection Act-

Companies using internet as a kind of marketing means are increasing rapidly according to the expansion trend of e-commerce through internet and consumers also use internet as the common means of purchasing necessary articles. E-commerce using internet has advantages without limitation to temporal and spatial accessibility and general consumers and unspecified individuals also use internet to purchase their goods as well as general transactions such as advertisement, contract, payment and claim settlement. 'In the age of information, invasion of personal information resulted from the development of information and communication technology is one of the greatest problems all the countries in the world face. Therefore, Personal information protection Act is one of basic laws to protect personal information and rights and it is also an essential law in the age of information. In that sense, new Personal information protection Act is the advanced act containing various items to minimize the national damages from the leaking of private information and protect right to informational self-determination in the information society. It is expected that this legislation contributes to reduce the leaking of private information, enhance the level of privacy protection and develop privacy related industries. However, active participation of all members of our society and improvement of their recognition should be preceded for the rational and legal use of private information and the settlement of its protection culture. While the purpose of Personal information protection Act can protect privacy from collection, leaking, misuse and abuse of private information and enhance national interests and protect personal dignity and value, it also must perform the roles of balancing privacy protection with liberal information flow.