크롤링을 통한 데이터 수집과 형사책임 - 대법원 2022.5.12. 선고 2021도1533 판결을 중심으로

Abstract

With the development of information and communication technology, the amount of data produced has reached an unimaginable level. Such data is recognized as an economic resource. However, not all data can be economic resources, so the collected data is used through the analysis process. Web crawling is a method used in this process. In general, web crawling refers to the work of a web crawler, that is, a computer program that explores the World Wide Web (WWW) in an organized and automated manner. In other words, web crawling refers to the act of collecting necessary information from a website operated by another person through an information collection robot. Such web crawling is widely used in various fields based on the Internet. Web crawling is drawing more attention, especially at a time when the importance of data is emphasized. Recently, the Supreme Court ruled on whether it constitutes an intrusion into the information and communication network under the Information and Communication Network Act related to web crawling. This ruling is meaningful as it is the first ruling related to web crawling. The target judgment is meaningful in that it was the first to judge criminal responsibility for data collection using web crawling. The target judgment acquitted all three criminal legal issues. Specifically, they are crimes of violating the Information and Communication Network Act (infringement of information and communication network, etc.), obstruction of business such as computers under the criminal law, and violation of copyright law (infringement of database copyright). However, even if it is a judgment of innocence on criminal legal issues according to the target judgment, legal value judgment on the technology itself cannot be made. Therefore, it is difficult to conclude that there is no criminal responsibility for crawling technology. In this sense, similar cases in the future may come to a different conclusion from the target judgment. This is because in the case of the target judgment, the violation of the Information and Communication Network Act was acquitted, but there is still room for data collection through web crawling to be recognized as an intrusion into the information and communication network.