【Anchor】
A recently proposed bill under which recording a phone call without the other party's consent could carry a prison sentence of up to 10 years is stirring controversy.
Users who must rely on phones with call-recording features for work are pushing back, asking whom the law is for.
Reporter Yang Mi-jeong reports.



【Reporter】
An amendment to the Protection of Communications Secrets Act was recently introduced in the National Assembly.

The bill stipulates that recording a call without the other party's consent could result in a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

Its core is a new provision added to the current law stating that 'a participant in a conversation may not record it without the consent of all other parties to the conversation.'

Rep. Yoon Sang-hyun of the People Power Party, who led the bill's introduction on the 18th, explained its purpose: "Call recording is sometimes a means of defense for the vulnerable, but it is often abused as a means of intimidation," adding, "It can infringe on the rights to privacy and personality, so it should not be allowed indiscriminately."

Public opinion on the bill, however, is frosty.

The backlash is especially fierce among users who have stuck with Samsung Galaxy phones and the like because call recording is essential for work.

They say that if Galaxy's 'automatically record all calls' feature, a key differentiator from the iPhone, disappears, there will no longer be any reason to use a Galaxy phone.

If the bill passes, a blow to the domestic smartphone industry is also expected.

▶ Interview (☎): Mr. A / Samsung smartphone user
- "I absolutely have to record calls because of my work. The biggest reason I use a Galaxy is automatic call recording, and if that becomes illegal there's no reason to insist on a Samsung phone. Ten years in prison for recording one call is absurd."

On top of that, the positive functions of recording, such as public-interest whistleblowing, protection against false accusations and exposing workplace abuse, would disappear, while the right to know and freedom of expression would be curtailed and people could unfairly end up bearing civil and criminal liability.

While positive from a privacy standpoint, the bill offers virtually no safeguards against the many side effects that would follow.

▶ Interview (☎): Shin Dong-woo / Attorney
- "If this bill passes and recordings made for whistleblowing, such as exposing workplace abuse, or for public-interest reasons come to be treated as illegally obtained evidence, there will be many more cases in which it is difficult to establish the substantive truth. And because the penalty provision imposes only imprisonment, with no option of a fine, on the person who made the recording, major repercussions are expected."

Call recording has long been a useful tool for preventing serious crimes such as voice phishing, fraud, intimidation and verbal abuse.

Critics say more careful deliberation is needed so that this bill, introduced without a national consensus, does not go down as a bad law.