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South Korean government looks to rein in the Net

madhatterz | 14.12.2008 03:26 | Repression | Technology

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.

"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.

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  1. Media freedom in the two halves of the Korean peninsula — Reality check