Online petition demands Apple bring Find My to Korea

An online petition in Korea is calling for Apple to reinstate its Find My feature, accusing the company of discrimination. If the petition garners 50,000 signatures by Aug. 21, the issue will be taken to a committee for further discussion.

iPhones are displayed during an event in Cupertino, Calif., on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019. [AP/YONHAP]

An online petition is calling for Apple to bring its Find My feature to Korea, accusing the American tech company of “discriminating” against the country.

Find My — which has not been operational in Korea, apart from its Bluetooth-based feature, since its 2010 launch — allows users to track the locations of their Apple devices, as well as those of trusted contacts, on a map. If a lost device is nearby, it can sound an alarm. If a user marks their device lost, they can lock it to safeguard personal information.

Owners of iPhones purchased outside Korea can still, technically, share their location with contacts while in Korea using Find My. Their location cannot actually be viewed while they are in the country, however, meaning the feature is still useless until they leave.

Korea is the only country where Find My doesn't work.

“Because of Apple's unclear reason for banning Find My features in Korea for the past 15 years and more, Apple device users had to endure inconveniences including potential damage incurred from the theft of the devices such as phone trafficking or sending of phishing messages,” reads the petition, which was posted on July 22.

“Such issues have been treated multiple times on YouTube or on media outlets as of July 14, but Apple is still maintaining silence on such discrimination against Korean users.”

Some have speculated that the Korean government banned Find My for national security reasons, as the country is technically still at war and more sensitive to disclosing location-related data.

Korea Communications Commission, which is in charge of regulating the protection and use of location information, however, has made clear that no such regulation restricts Apple's Find My service in the country.

“There are similar services to Apple's Find My that are already provided in Korea by other operators,” an official from the commission said to the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“We made an inquiry to Apple regarding the issue about a month ago, and Apple's answer was that it is due to 'company's internal regulation'. As far as [Find My is] concerned, Apple is choosing to not offer the service in Korea, and [it is] is far from being banned.”

Apple Korea did not comment on the matter.

If the online petition receives support from more than 50,000 people by Aug. 21, the issue is will be delegated to dedicated committee for further discussion.

It has collected 5,300 signatures as of Friday evening.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [jin.eunsoo@joongang.co.kr]