개인정보보호에 있어 정보주체의 동의

The mechanism of consent by data subject is currently abused severely. This article first surveys the policy approaches of the European Union, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, and Korea. The author finds that no country has ever showed a satisfactory solution to this problem. Although it cannot replace other principles of personal data protection, data processors widely used the consent mechanism as it can preempt the eruption of disputes and help to settle any dispute in a favorable way once it arises. As the consent mechanism gives more benefit to data processors than to data subject, data processors are more aggressive in obtaining consent by the data subject. The processors are dominant compared to the data subjects. Because it is not a transaction between the equals, efforts should be made by the government, agencies and the civil society to prevent a market failure and establish a fair market order in personal data processing. Big data exacerbates the serious conflicts between the existing legal system of personal data protection and the market development. An overall revision of the legal system should be contemplated including replacement of the legal relationship based on the consent mechanism by the legal relationship based on regulatory mechanism on a temporary and partial basis.