'Wangsanam' cannot even be rented for 5,000 won offered as compensation... TVING's 'trickery' compensation plan sparks spread of class-action lawsuits [★FOCUS]

*This content was translated by AI.View Original

OTT platform TVING, which caused a massive personal information leak affecting approximately 39.45 million people, has begun accepting compensation applications from affected customers amid growing dissatisfaction with its compensation policy.

TVING will accept compensation applications from members whose personal information was leaked via its official website and mobile app starting at 10 a.m. on the 7th through the 30th. Once applied for, compensation will be distributed sequentially starting at 10 a.m. on October 6.

The specific compensation includes: ▲one-year free enrollment in hacking/phishing peace-of-mind insurance (DB Insurance) ▲three-month access to TVING Premium viewing features ▲TVING points worth 5,000 won (50P, usable for purchasing content within TVING) ▲entertainment benefits (choice between one-month Wave ad-supported standard plan or a 5,000-won CGV combo discount coupon). TVING estimates the perceived value per person for the entire compensation package, including insurance, at approximately 20,000 won.

CGV discount coupons can be used until December 31 this year and will automatically expire thereafter. Wave plan coupons must also be registered by December 31 and are valid for one month from the registration date.

The Premium viewing feature supports up to 4K resolution, allows up to 400 content downloads, and enables simultaneous viewing on up to four devices over a three-month period.

However, it does not provide the Premium subscription plan itself (17,000 won per month). Ad-supported Standard (5,500 won/month), Basic (9,500 won/month), and Standard (13,500 won/month) subscribers can continue using content available under their current subscriptions while upgrading only the video quality, download count, and number of simultaneous devices to Premium-level standards. Even if Ad-supported Standard members receive the Premium viewing feature, they must still watch advertisements as before.

TVING points worth 5,000 won (50P) can be used for individual content purchases. Members who cannot receive the 'Premium viewing feature' compensation using their Premium subscription plan as of the 30th will additionally receive 50P in TVING points. In this case, they effectively receive a total of 100P, equivalent to 10,000 won.

Compensation can be applied for only once per account. Once submitted, the selected compensation item cannot be changed.

Although former members who have canceled their subscriptions are included in the compensation target, they must re-register with TVING to receive compensation. In this regard, TVING explained that registration is unavoidable for identity verification and data matching purposes.

However, this compensation plan has become increasingly difficult to avoid criticism for ultimately encouraging lapsed customers to rejoin due to the massive personal information leak. Additionally, complaints from affected consumers are mounting over the need to re-enter personal information for application submission and undergo identity verification procedures, as well as the requirement for users to manually apply rather than receiving automatic disbursement.

This is precisely because the offered compensation items structurally lead to paid subscription inducement. In the case of 'Premium viewing feature provision,' former members who have re-registered but do not currently hold an active content subscription plan cannot utilize this benefit alone. To actually use the benefit, they must separately subscribe to one of the Ad-supported Standard, Basic, or Standard plans. Accordingly, unlike other items requiring manual application, TVING has set only the 'Premium viewing feature provision' as 'automatically applied.'

The 50P in TVING points worth 5,000 won is also insufficient to purchase even a single latest content item. For example, the latest movie "A Man Who Lives with the King" requires 55P (worth 5,500 won).

This is why criticism has emerged that this is 'marketing trickery' disguised as victim compensation. Affected customers have expressed outrage with comments such as: "Is this compensation or marketing?", "I filed a class-action lawsuit on the day the compensation plan was announced," "Shouldn't it be automatically provided instead of requiring application?", "If you're joining the lawsuit, I recommend not accepting this," "I canceled my account long ago and everything was stolen. Now they want me to re-register just for this? It's infuriating," "What is this? Ultimately, it's pushing payments," "This compensation plan feels like extortion. Better to get at least 10,000 won through a class-action lawsuit as damages," "Why apply when you should just give it automatically?", "Because of this strange compensation, the number of people joining the group lawsuit must have increased even more," "Wow, they got completely robbed and now what are they doing?", "They're giving a 5,000-won coupon when I need to spend 5,500 won. This is unbelievable," "How shameless," and "They got robbed themselves, yet I, the victim, have to apply?"

Earlier, in May, the Ministry of Science and ICT's joint public-private investigation team announced that personal information from a total of 39.54 million accounts was leaked due to TVING's security breach: 22.06 million active accounts, 8.5 million dormant accounts, 8.87 million canceled accounts, and 110,000 test accounts.

In other words, all account information held by TVING was leaked. The leaked data included names, dates of birth, resident registration numbers, email addresses, linked information (CI), and payment history.

Accordingly, at a cyber security breach briefing held on the 3rd at Korea Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, TVING Choi Ju-hui (CEO) bowed its head, stating, "We deeply regret this incident and will fundamentally rebuild our entire information security system from the ground up."

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*This content was translated by AI.View Original