How we protect
user information
- For LINE Privacy Day 2022, we'll talk about the important measures we have implemented to help give our users peace of mind. We'll explore them from three perspectives: "features that protect," "systems that protect," and "people that protect."
Features that protect
LINE has developed a feature that ensures that the content of chats and calls can only be seen by the people participating in them. This is made possible through the development and implementation of an end-to-end encryption technology called Letter Sealing.
How does it protect me?
Letter Sealing is akin to sending a locked safe in the mail. Only the person holding the key to that safe may view its contents.
Since only the sender and recipient of each message have the key to the vault, only they can view its contents, no matter where in the world they may be.
- More details on the technology behind Letter Sealing can be found here: Technical white paper
The scope of Letter Sealing
Letter Sealing is currently applied to text messages and location pins*¹ sent over the LINE app (limited to messages in chats with 50 or fewer participants). Letter Sealing and encryption are also applied to 1-on-1 voice and video calls.*²
Even LINE employees can't view encrypted messages.
- More details on the scope of Letter Sealing can be found here: LINE Encryption Report
Letter Sealing is enabled by default, so users don't need to configure it.
In addition to providing Letter Sealing, we'll continue to implement further measures to ensure an even safer experience for LINE users everywhere.
*¹ "Location pins" refers to the location information that LINE users can send to each other in chats.
*² This will only apply if all participants in a chat room have the Letter Sealing setting enabled. Letter Sealing isn't supported for chats or groups of 51 people or more.
You can check if Letter Sealing is enabled from the ≡ menu located in the top right of each chat screen.
Systems that protect
Since LINE provides a variety of services that handle user information (personal data), we've implemented a process to determine risks and influences on privacy so that we can offer secure experiences to our users. We call this our "Privacy Impact Assessment."
How does this system work?
When we design a service for users, a team of privacy and legal experts participates from the development and planning stages onward.
These experts evaluate each service to ensure that it doesn't infringe upon user privacy and is safe to use.
The Privacy Impact Assessment focuses on answering three key questions in order to ensure user privacy.
- 1
Does the service follow all applicable laws?
- 2
Does the service treat user information securely?
- 3
Does the service protect our promises to our users?(The Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions of Use)
People that protect
To ensure that our handling of user information complies with laws and regulations and is sufficiently secure, we've established a position that oversees the previously mentioned Privacy Impact Assessment and also supervises the handling of user information for each service, independent from the planning and development teams. We call this person our Data Protection Officer (DPO).
How do they protect me?
When crucial decisions must be made regarding user privacy, such as changes to the Privacy Policy in accordance with domestic or international law, the DPO will double-check and offer advice from a different perspective than that of the security team implementing measures to protect user data.
The DPO also provides feedback on the Privacy Impact Assessment as implemented by the security team to ensure that the data entrusted to us by users is managed with multiple levels of supervision.