We live on information-originated society. Can you make a rough estimate how much information on the internet? According to Andy Greenhaw, who is digital strategist, 1.2 zettabytes(1.3 trillion gigabytes) of the information are now existed in cyberspace. Because of these much information, we can easily approach to them and get information. However, can we say that it is just good? As growing amount of information, many problems are also emerged. There are many problems about leakage, steal and illegal use of other's name. Among many problems, leakage of resident registration number is serious. These days there is a debate about collecting resident registration number. Resident registration number is very important and private information. However, this secret information wanders on the internet and open to other people. To prevent more serious problem, resident registration number should not be collected on the internet.
Resident registration number originally made for prevention of espionage in 1970s. Give the number to south Korea people, and find that people have the number. If there are people who don't have the number, they are pointed out for spy. The problem is that, resident registration number is remain unchanged forever. Because of it, the number becomes have function of distinguish and many companies and government require resident registration number for offering service and condition of deal. As this processes are going on, many companies store resident registration numbers, as they store them, they flow out them. Therefore many people can know and have others numbers.
When we sign in some internet sites, we need several private information such as name, birthday, e-mail address and so on. All of information are sensitive, however, among them resident registration number is may be the most sensitive information because it contains so much information about us. Resident registration number contains our birth place, birth day, gender etc. Therefore many people are sensitive and want to protect their number. According to Trend Moniter, nine out of ten netizens agree with the government policy that colliecting resident registration number is banned. Also, eight out of ten netizens are give up to sign up to worry about leakage of resident registration number. However, these days, this important information of us is floating on the internet because of leakage of resident registration number. According to Privacy.or.kr, since 1991 to 2014, there are at least 620.5 million number of resident registration number leakage. Think about people who you don't know already know your number even don't know who you are. Also your number can be used anywhere by people who know your resident registration number. It can become very serious problem. There are already several leakages of the number. To prevent these problems, resident registration number should not be collected on the internet. Companies or people who require resident registration number usually say they need the number because they need to recognize and distinguish people. However, because of leakage of the number, resident registration number loses its value. Because of leakage of the number, many people can know other people's numbers also there are some dealings to sell and buy others resident registration number. Therefore, we can use other people's number when we sign in some sites, credit card, even can use bad ways. Can we really say resident registration number has its value to recognize individuals? The number lose its value and reliability.
Also these leakages cause too many problems and make too many damages. As mentioned earlier, we can use other people's number for bad ways. Therefore someone can get damaged like pay money involuntarily or get tickets for illegal behaviors that we didn't do.
Many people say resident registration numbers are needed to recognize individuals, however, the numbers are not only thing to distinguish people. For examples, go to bank and make your own account right now. We don't need our resident registration number to make own account. Only things we need to write are name, birthday, address, job, telephone number, home number etc. Without resident registration number, and with these information, bank can recognize us. This is why foreign banks are well going on where there are no resident registration number and Korea bank can make accounts for foreigners. Moreover, there is the alternative of resident registration number. It is My-PIN. My-PIN is the number that consists of 13-digit number for unprescribed. People can get the number through the internet site or dong office. We can use the number when we are issued membership card, talk to ARS, or book lental etc.
We use resident registration number for long time so it is hard to adapt. It seems to be reasonable that collecting resident registration number is needed. According to C-NEWS, 11.7% of 2000 people are agree with collecting resident registration number on the internet. They says if collecting resident registration number is banned, it is hard to find lost ID and password also communities can be murky. However, we can find our id and password without resident registration number. We can find them through our e-mail and phone number. These days, most of pages use e-mail address and phone number to find id and password. Moreover, people say communities can be murky if resident registration number not be collected, however, it is not the problem with the resident registration number. It is the problem with consciousness of people. Of course, we can prevent double sign in and through identification, people have responsibilities. However, it is just part of problem. Consciousness is not changed if we collect resident registration number. Moreover there can be refutation about the alternative one My-Pin. It can the alternative of resident registration number. However, if it is leaked to others, it is not different to resident registration number. The more private information is accumulated in the my-pin, the more we use. Then it has same value with the resident registration number. My-Pin has also danger of leakage, therefore it has no difference with the number we originally used.
We use resident registration number for long time so it is hard to adapt. It seems to be reasonable that collecting resident registration number is needed. According to C-NEWS, 11.7% of 2000 people are agree with collecting resident registration number on the internet. They says if collecting resident registration number is banned, it is hard to find lost ID and password also communities can be murky. However, we can find our id and password without resident registration number. We can find them through our e-mail and phone number. These days, most of pages use e-mail address and phone number to find id and password. Moreover, people say communities can be murky if resident registration number not be collected, however, it is not the problem with the resident registration number. It is the problem with consciousness of people. Of course, we can prevent double sign in and through identification, people have responsibilities. However, it is just part of problem. Consciousness is not changed if we collect resident registration number. Moreover there can be refutation about the alternative one My-Pin. It can the alternative of resident registration number. However, if it is leaked to others, it is not different to resident registration number. The more private information is accumulated in the my-pin, the more we use. Then it has same value with the resident registration number. My-Pin has also danger of leakage, therefore it has no difference with the number we originally used.
As a one person who live in information-oriented society, we get many benefits and convenience from a lot of information. However, as much as we get, there are following problems. Sure enough, leakages of our information are occur especially about resident registration number and cause many damages. These days there is a debate of collecting resident registration number on the internet. Resident registration number originally made for prevention of espionage in 1970s and its function gradually develop so these days it uses for recognize individuals. However, can resident registration number can really function well? Certainly not. Also resident registration number is not the only way to recognize individuals. Therefore resident registration number should not be collected on the internet.
References
Greenhaw, Andy. How big is the Internet?
from https://andygreenhaw.wordpress.com/2010/08/02/how-big-is-the-internet/
Visual Dive.(2014.02). '주민등록번호, 돌아보는 46년 역사' 인포그래픽
from http://www.wikitree.co.kr/main/news_view.php?id=160720
Public I-PIN. My-PIN이란
from http://www.g-pin.go.kr/center/mypin/sub_01.gpin
Trend Monitor.(2004.04). 네티즌들은 회원 가입시 주민등록 번호 공개를 꺼려한다
from http://www.trendmonitor.co.kr/html/01_trend/01_korea_view.asp?idx=80
Inforight.(2014.03). 주민등록번호 유출 최소 6억 2천만건
from http://www.privacy.or.kr/archives/4891
