[solaris]

The leaders of the most wired country on Earth are seeking to curb online anonymity and debate, with laws that many say will fail


While governments around the world try to make sense of the internet and wonder how to curb some of its darker incarnations, all eyes should now be on South Korea, which is one of the first democracies planning to use the law to hold the internet to account.

Many believe that the government's attempt to impose rules on internet users will fail. What it is seeking to do is bring websites in line with traditional media: to make them accountable, subject to laws of libel and so forth.

This is a risky strategy for Seoul: if it fails, the government will face the kind of online rebellion that nearly ended the ruling government's tenure only a few months ago.

South Korea is possibly the most wired nation on Earth: 97% of South Korean households have high-speed broadband access. In the UK, by comparison, 35% of homes have no access to the web at all.

Some observers say this growth in internet access has brought out the worst in South Koreans.

"Internet behaviour in South Korea is somewhat of a low culture. I'm often disgusted or even offended by the manners on the net," says Dr Youngmi Kim, a professor of sociology and politics at the University of Edinburgh whose research is focusing on issues of governability in Korea, Taiwan and Japan. She is against any outright censorship, but would like to see some sort of campaign encouraging better web manners.

The South Korean government is ahead of her. Along with laws controlling internet postings, which are due to be passed in November, Seoul also plans to introduce internet etiquette and ethics lessons in schools this year for children aged seven and older.

The question is, can you police the internet? British MPs seem to think so. Members of the Commons select committee for culture, media and sport, which has made the case for centralizing controls, say they want "a tighter form of self-regulation, under which the industry would speedily establish a self-regulatory body".

South Korea is going much further. Not only will all sites that publish news be liable to the same restrictions as newspapers, TV and radio, they will be answerable to a government regulatory body - the Korean Communications Standards Commission.

The rules extend beyond websites to individuals. All forum and chatroom users will be required to make verifiable real-name registrations, while internet companies will have to make their search algorithms public to improve "transparency".

Most controversial of all, the commission will be given powers to suspend the publication of articles accused of being fraudulent or slanderous, for a minimum of 30 days. During this period the commission will then decide if an article that has been been temporarily deleted or flagged should be removed permanently.

However, Seoul's previous experience with such censorship suggest that unless the government hires thousands more people to staff the commission, which is already behind in processing some 2,000 internet-related objections, just addressing the initial complaints will be unworkable, untenable and unenforceable.

Full story here:

South Korea wants to gag the noisy internet rabble | Technology | The Guardian

[GHERDEZ]

Originally Posted by solaris

Full story here:

South Korea wants to gag the noisy internet rabble | Technology | The Guardian

Hello Solaris, Hello every one!

The government seeking to curb anonymity, debate, bad manners, misinformation, lack of accountability, among other of the internet's "dark incarnations". How could someone be against the government's efforts to make the internet a better place for everyone? Especially, with causes that beg to be supported, like enforcement of accountability and good manners?

The problem is that nobody has more at stake, than the government, when it is about losing control of the masses. The government can't no longer rule confortably, because, it will face public criticism, opposition, protests,etc. So the government to counteract this problem, won't become more transparent, less arbitrary, less corrupt, won't act more ethically, but, will institute another bureucracy, task force, department, "regulatory body" to regulate, restrict, or censor whatever disconforts them. This would hold them accountable to the same regulations of "traditional" media, or should we say, nationalized, government owned, or controlled media.
Additionally, it plans to introduce etiquette, and ethics lessons in schools regarding internet postings. An effort for change, that perhaps, would be easier if South Korea along with other governments in the region (just to the north, lies one of the most oppresive governments in the planet) hadn't stripped the school curricula of religion, and the practice of ethics in general (that both act as moral guidelines for human beings) in order to make people more docile.
The concern about bad manners in the internet is the result of bad manners in the real world, due to poor education, and bad government policies. And, while this positive effort, is genuinly important. The internet, only makes people's bad manners more evident, and is not the source of the problem. People needs more ethics in general, but, that would ultimately result, in people not only questioning their own and other's actions, but the government's as well.
In regards to the rampart spread of missinformation by people hiding in anonymity could be, in a small regard, partially solved by real-name registration in chat rooms or forums, and therefore, forcing their real identities to be revealed. That would hold true perhaps for the common individual, yet, the government is unfortunately the biggest offender and spreader of lies to serve their own interest. And the only effective defense of the powerless, unarmed individual against the government is the cover of anonymity.
Societal evolution is an irreversible process, and as South Koreans become more informed, the government will have to abandon their self-serving "modus operandi", in favor or those initiatives that favor public interest.

Thanks for reading....

GHERDEZ