No Obligation, No Responsibility
It has been found that Google which accounts for 80 percent of Korea’s smartphone operating system (OS) market caused an error during a process of updating mobile applications, suspending payment by mobile credit cards in Korea for about one week.
According to Google and related industries on December 20, after the distribution of the latest version (Version 63) of Google's mobile browser application 'Chrome' on December 11, credit card payment errors occurred in Korean mobile shopping malls.
This happened to Android smartphone users who updated the application with the version 63. They took place not only when paying via Chrome, but also when paying by means of mobile shopping mall apps themselves. The same problem occurred to payments via external payment platforms such as Payco. Users expressed frustration with such shopping malls and payment platforms but their companies jumped up and down impatiently as they failed to find any problems in their malls and payment platforms.
It was found that the error was sparked off by a conflict between Chrome Version 63 and Google's payment solutions. But business operators could not do anything until Google solved the problem. The business operators just told customers to "delete the latest Chrome browser." Google resolved the issue by distributing new software on December 18, but Korean users had to suffer a lot of inconveniences for a week.
The point is that when this kind of thing happens, neither Korean business operators nor the Korean government can map out their own plans to minimize damage to users. There is no obligation for internet business operators (value added carriers) such as Google to disclose data on the current status of their business in the current law. In particular, they are free from obligations to publicly disclose their business performances and receive external audits as they were registered as limited companies.
Meanwhile, Kim Sung-tae, a lawmaker of the Liberty Korea Party, and Oh Se-jung, a lawmaker of the People’s Party, announced a bill requiring internet companies to submit such data. However, it is pointed out that it is important to make the bill applied not only to Korean Internet companies but also foreign ones doing business in Korea.