공안사범자료관리의 법적 문제점에 대한 검토

This research examines the current condition of the data on public safety offenders, which is computerized and managed according to the Provision on the Data of Public Safety Offenders, a presidential directive, and assesses the legal issues concerning the Provision with the aim of proposing reform measures. The state has carried out a broad range of surveillance on people who have opposed or criticized the government and, based on these surveillance, has indiscriminately collected sensitive private information. This information has been computerized and kept on file for use by the government. However, this kind of collecting of private information has no legal basis, and the subject of the information cannot exercise any right as he is not aware that his records are classified as public safety offense records. This hinders the rule of law and constitutes a serious human rights violation. Moreover, the current method of managing public safety offenders’ data constitutes a head-on violation of the Private Information Protection Act which imposes various restrictions as to the collection and use of private information. The scope of public safety offenses based on the Provision on the Management of Data of Public Safety Offenders is too large and allows the possibility of arbitrary expansion by the government. Also, adding to the recently reinforced public safety functions, the Provisions guarantee the initiative of the prosecutor’s office regarding the management of the data of public safety offenders, raising concerns of abuse of authority and human rights violation on the part of the prosecutor’s office. Although the Provisions have been amended to slightly limit the scope of public safety offenses, fundamental corrections are yet to take place. Above all, current conditions of the management of public safety offenders’data must be disclosed, and then the necessity to collect the information of public safety offenders must be assessed. If, as a result of the assessment,the collection of information is deemed necessary, appropriate acts must be established so that the scope, subject, requirements, etc of information collection is limited in a clear and specific manner and that the rights of the subject of the information is guaranteed. This is an inevitable demand of our constitution.