The IHT has an article out that explains how the Lee Myung-bak government plans to reign in the Internet smears that nearly brought down his administration during the mad cow nonsense:
The South Korean government is pursuing a series of restrictions on Internet use to prevent what the embattled administration of President Lee Myung Bak calls the spread of false information that prompts social unrest.
Under the proposal, all forum and chat room users will be required to make verifiable registrations using their real names. In addition, the Korea Communications Commission would make it mandatory that Web sites took down for 30 days articles that received complaints for being fraudulent or slanderous.
During that time, the Korean Communications Standards Commission, the country’s media arbitration body, would rule on whether to allow the article to be published again.
Regulators have not worked out what penalties violators would face.
This is not the first time South Korea has attempted to rein in the Internet, said Robert Koehler, an English-language blogger on Korea based in Seoul. [Michael Fitzpatrick - International Herald Tribune]
Here is what Robert Koehler of Marmot’s Hole fame had to say about this decision from the Lee government when he was interviewed on the subject:
“Even under progressive presidents like Roh Moo Hyun, police blocked pro-North Korean Web sites, demanded pro-North Korean postings be erased and even arrested two activists for - among other things - downloading ‘The Communist Manifesto,”‘ he said.
“It should also be pointed out that the government’s charge - that there’s a lot of misinformation being spread on the Net, and that this can cause major social problems - is not completely without merit, even if the government needs to be careful in the manner in which it approaches the issue.”
I have conflicted feelings on this but I can definitely understand why the Lee government wants to do this. The influence of the Internet in Korea rivals that of mainstream journalists and thus should be held to the same standards. Obviously the standards of Korean journalism are not very high but at least you can put a name to what is being written.
You can see this same phenomenon beginning to happen in America with the various slurs on the Internet that Senator Obama is a Muslim or Governor Palin is really the grandma of her Down’s Syndrome baby for example. However unlike Korea, most Americans in my opinion do not readily believe what they read on the Internet and wait to see what the mainstream media has to say. This is because Americans trust their mainstream media more then the Korean public trusts theirs, and thus the influence of the Internet sites in Korea is increased.
While the Lee administration is going after these Internet sites maybe they should also go after their own mainstream journalists as well and begin to promote better journalistic standards so people won’t readily believe what they read on the Internet anyway?
Popularity: 1%
:mrgreen:...
9:43 am on September 8th, 2008 1
Oh come on — this is clearly not a sensible move. I can’t imagine any American would really be *conflicted* about it, if for the free speech argument alone. Let’s face it: such restrictions can be and will be abused. The point of not restricting speech is to not restrict information. The marketplace of ideas does an excellent job of filtering out the complete BS in the long-run. This is about control, not about the public interest. And it’s a bad idea. Count me as very disappointed in the Lee Myung-bak administration.
4:29 pm on September 8th, 2008 2
Ditto with the Admiral…
All we have to do is look at China’s sad attempts to control the internet…it only makes people wnat it that much more.
In ANY society in these modern ages who attempts to limit what the people can/cannot see, read, or hear, they are only inviting disaster. Look at the Philippines, where any journalist exposing any/many of the corrupt politicans running rampant throughout that country, is soon assasinated…Look at Zimbabwe, Iraq, Russia, etc. This only brings outrage to the populace.
It is the people in charge that are afraid, thus stupid moves to control thought. Never has worked…never will work…instead they should focus their efforts at providing the “Truth” to the people and letting the people make their choices…sadly, Koreans have ben brainwashed by Pro-North agitators for so long, and fooled by their own corrupt leaders…that they have become almost incapable of “Free Will.” The S. Korean government, as all governments throughout the world, need to get pro-active on cyber warfare and start doing battle for the virtual “Hearts & Minds” but by doing it openly and honestly.
7:30 pm on September 8th, 2008 3
I love how Western reporters always have to give a soundbite at the end of stories from OhMyNews, those noble defenders of free speech.
OhMyNews published so much distorted BS during the anti-US beef protests it was disgusting. And I find the notion of a “citizen-reporter” an insult to the professsion of journalism. Just because you don’t like Lee Myung-bak doesn’t make you a “journalist.”
I agree the real problem is the media here, and that that should be the main thing the government tries to slap some sense into.
7:58 pm on September 8th, 2008 4
The statement, “all forum and chat room users will be required to make verifiable registrations using their real names” may be an exaggeration of what I read a month ago.
If that is the limits of mandatory user verification then there will still be many outlet for anonymous commentary.
As you can see from the types of problems cited, they range from what we Americans would consider to be criminal (death threats) and civil (violations of privacy; posting photos and phone numbers, libel; accusing someone of causing a suicide). But, they also include things that Americans don’t consider to be illegal offenses, such as making malicious comments. Yes, it was sad that a young woman resorted to suicide because she couldn’t tolerate the hurtful things people said about her after it was revealed she had plastic surgery. Does that mean there is a need to enforce politeness of the Internet? Maybe Michael Jackson and Britney Spears may say so.
The Korean government will be operating on a slippery slope if they start trying to regulate subjective behavior such as etiquette. The foundation of any free democracy is free speech. Biting criticism and sarcasm are some of the most effective forms of that.
1:19 am on September 9th, 2008 5
Wasnt soem of the beat up about the ‘mad cow’ beef from the mainstream media?
For an educated society, I am amazed at how easily led some Koreans can be!