“I Think She’s Having an Affair” — Filming a Colleague’s KakaoTalk and Sharing It Is a Crime, Even at a Childcare Facility
A childcare facility employee who opened a colleague’s KakaoTalk on a shared computer, filmed the conversation, and sent it to another staff member claiming the colleague was having an affair has been convicted of information and communications network violation and defamation — though sentence was suspended. Here are the key points.
Facts
- In June 2024, A, an employee at a children’s welfare facility, accessed a KakaoTalk account belonging to a colleague that was logged in on a shared workplace computer. A opened the chat window, read the contents, filmed it on a personal device, and sent the footage to another employee with the implication that the colleague was having an extramarital affair.
- A argued she had come across the conversation by chance, and that her motive was to address improper conduct and protect the healthy working environment and the children at the facility.
- A was charged with violation of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and defamation.
Court Decision
- Cheongju District Court, Chungju Branch (Criminal Division 2, Judge Kim Ju-hyeon) convicted A and imposed a suspended sentence of a ₩1 million criminal fine — meaning the conviction stands but the fine is not immediately imposed, subject to A avoiding further offenses for a specified period.
- On the network violation charge, the court found A had not passively noticed an open screen — she had actively opened the chat window, read the contents, and then filmed them. KakaoTalk conversations fall squarely within the private domain of the account holder, and A’s claimed public interest justification was not accepted.
- The court found no evidence that the colleague’s alleged affair had any effect on her work performance or her care of the children at the facility — undermining the claimed connection between the conduct and any legitimate workplace or child protection concern.
- On defamation, the court found the publicity element was satisfied even though A had shared the information with only one person — because the content subsequently spread to other staff members, transmission to one person was sufficient to establish the requisite public nature of the disclosure.
- On the public interest defense to defamation, the court noted A had not reported the colleague to the facility director or any relevant authority — a step that would have been the appropriate channel if the concern were genuinely about workplace conduct or child safety. The decision to share the information with a fellow employee rather than report it formally indicated personal rather than institutional motivation.
- In mitigation, the court credited A’s remorse and her otherwise clean record over the fifteen years since a prior fine.
Key Takeaways
- Accessing another person’s messaging account on a shared device — even where the account happens to be logged in — and filming the contents constitutes a violation of the information and communications network law. The act of opening the chat window and actively reading it removes any passive discovery defense.
- Private messaging content is part of the account holder’s intimate personal domain regardless of the device it is accessed on. A shared workplace computer does not reduce the privacy protection of a personal messaging account.
- Sharing damaging private information with even a single recipient constitutes defamation where that information foreseeably spreads further — the court looks at the actual dissemination, not just the initial audience.
- A claimed public interest justification for sharing private information fails where the person did not use appropriate institutional channels — reporting to management or relevant authorities — and instead spread the information informally among colleagues.
- A suspended sentence (선고유예) is the most lenient outcome available upon conviction in Korea — the conviction is recorded but the penalty is not enforced, subject to good behavior.
Why This Matters
This case sits at the intersection of workplace privacy, digital voyeurism, and the limits of whistleblower-style justifications for privacy violations. The court’s analysis makes clear that good intentions — or claimed ones — do not license employees to access colleagues’ private communications and distribute them. The appropriate response to a concern about a colleague’s conduct is to report it through proper channels, not to surveil, film, and circulate private messages. For employers managing shared device environments, the case is a reminder that logged-in personal accounts on workplace computers retain their privacy protection, and that employees who exploit those access points face criminal exposure regardless of their stated motives.
Article: https://view.asiae.co.kr/article/2026101119351720660
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