The arrest of developers of the controversial smartphone app "오빠믿지"

The developers of a smartphone application called “오빠믿지” have been arrested for revealing personal location information to thousands of people via circulation of the application. The much disputed application “오빠믿지” provides Location Based Service (LBS), and according to Artsnews, once installed on a smartphone and the smartphone of another person, one can chat with the other while receiving information on his/her whereabouts.

The name of the application, “오빠믿지,” means “you believe oppa, right?” and has become very controversial because of this invasion of privacy. The term 오빠 (oppa) is often used by a female to address any older male, but is also often used when in a dating relationship. According to ENS, some people are not very happy about the idea of tracking down others or being tracked down, as it may “cause a fight between couples.” Others are showing a very positive reaction saying, “it’s great to know where my boyfriend/girlfriend is and to know what he/she is doing.”


Kihoilbo reports that the company which developed the application introduced it as a progressive movement: “As much as culture makes progress, society makes progress. As much as lies make progress, technology makes progress.” However progressive the application may claim to be, according to Segyeilbo, the Guro Police Department arrested 8 people, including the developers of the application and CEOs of four companies that helped spread the application. When providing LBS, a company must notify the Korean Communications Commission before starting business, which the people involved in the initial stages of development failed to do. Also in violation of a KCC rule, the application does not notify the user that his/her location is being sent to another person. The police stated, “The developers didn’t even know the related law existed and were just focused on increasing the number of users.”