개인정보 유출과 손해배상책임 - 대법원 2019. 9. 26. 선고 2018다222303, 222310, 222327 판결 -

초록

Recently, a large number of Supreme Court rulings have been imposed on claims for damages related to the breaches of personal information from three credit card companies. First, this paper contains reviews of the contents of the relevant rulings. Second, the phenomenon of personal information breach has been defined, and landmark decisions on personal data breach compensations prior to the newer decisions have been analyzed. Lastly, by dividing the newer decisions into individual actions of wrongdoing, I reviewed the negligence of personal information controllers, and discussed the liability of illegal acts under the Civil Code. Furthermore, issues of contention with the newer decisions have been addressed in each section. Even when breaches of personal information can be established, the appropriate damages recognized by the Korean court tends to be quite small unless a separate and secondary harm can be established by the plaintiff. However, it cannot be simply concluded that the liability for damages should be heightened to better provide relief for the plaintiff. The court would benefit greatly from taking a holistic view of personal information breaches, approaching them with considerations of various systems including civil liability, criminal liability, and administrative regulations.

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