The Hankyoreh reports some very disturbing news, namely, that the government is looking at ways to retaliate against Google after the search engine rebuffed Seoul’s demand the Youtube adopt a real-name verification system:
An official at the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), who wished to remain nameless, said Thursday that the KCC was “in an uproar” over Google’s April 9 decision. “The people higher up said that they could not just leave Google alone and told us to find something to punish them with, so the related team is researching possible illegalities,” the official said.
On April 9, Google announced that it would be blocking users with South Korean nationality from uploading content and posting comments on YouTube Korea’s Web site, effectively rejecting the implementation of the real name system. Initially, the KCC reacted tepidly, calling the case “not something to take administrative measures over,” but in just a few days, it has taken a 180-degree turn. According to sources, the KCC has apparently made the determination that Google’s decisions have represented an evasion of regulations and that it is not a situation that they can leave alone as a regulatory authority.
KCC network policy official Hwang Cheol-jeung says that the commission will be examining whether or not Google has engaged in illegal activities in any of the various services it operates in South Korea. Since Google’s Korea Unit is conducting many activities in South Korea besides operating the YouTube Korea video site, including search and keyword-based advertising, observers are concerned that this investigation could potentially turn up illegal practices in areas such as internet obscenity, unwholesome advertising, and copyright infringements.
Just to show that in some quarters, Korea is an irony free-zone:
Choi See-joong, chairman of KCC, expressed strong dissatisfaction with Google at a Wednesday meeting of the National Assembly’s Committee on Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting & Communications (CCSTB&C). At the CCSTB&C meeting, Grand National Party lawmaker Na Kyung-won said that with Google’s measure, “They are speaking as though Korea is a backwards Internet nation that is intensifying its Internet censorship. Why are you just standing around doing nothing?” Choi responded that plans were underway to “send a message of severe dismay to Google about their terribly commercial approach with which it has tried to deceive people by a transparent guile.” He also said that he planned to meet with the head of Google Korea to determine the company’s true motives, and that the KCC was currently conducting legality investigations. [emphasis mine]
Note to Rep. Na — they’re speaking as though Korea is a backwards Internet nation precisely because of shit like this and this, which then ends up in the editorial section of the Asia Wall Street Journal… people you’d think would wish the Lee administration well.
This just makes the country look bad, and WSJ is absolutely right — it’s not good for business. Korea’s IT technology, ubiquitous Internet access and Net savvy population are supposed to be national strengths, but they won’t be if the country gains a reputation as China Lite. And let’s be honest — as much as I lean in favor of the current Korean administration, its approach to the Internet (as well as to a great many other things) is simply too hamfisted to make effective control possible… but plenty hamfisted enough to piss off a good deal of the public and embarrass the country trying.
{ 46 comments… read them below or add one }
An official at the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), who wished to remain nameless,”……oh the irony of it all!
@ 1. lol!
Someone should tell these dinosaurs that Youtube is just one of many websites where videos can be posted (not that it would matter. This may also have something to do with protecting the ad revenue of a chaebol owned website).
Yes, yes, trying to “deceive people by a transparent guile” again…
-WSJ
Call me persnickety, but I’d replace “can” with “should be able to”.
Honest to god, there are days when I think the South Korean government outsources public relations functions to the Norks.
so. afraid. of. the. outside. world.
I’m personally sending Youtube/Google an email thanking them for their decision to uphold free speech and fight censorship/Big Brother.
I liked this from the Asia WSJ link:
“Arguing that Korea’s market is that vulnerable to misinformation from a blogger is probably a bigger blow to national credibility than anything Mr. Park [Minerva] published.”
To plagiarize/paraphrase a bit…
“Arguing that [people are] that vulnerable to misinformation from a[nyone] is probably a bigger blow to [insert name here]‘s credibility than anything [whoever] published.”
Especially these days, when so many are predisposed to lick the “published” turds of anyone pseudo-notable that supports their views.
Arguing that Korea’s market is vulnerable to misinformation from a blogger *is* and admission of weakness and inability to govern on the part of the Korean Government “stumbler”. Whoever, in Korean Government, advocated the subsequent response to “Minerva” should be fired because they have no idea of how to govern a country.
Na Kyung-won seems to have a problem understanding just *what* the problem is too. Will someone please explain to him just what is wrong with his perception of Google and the actions of his party membership? I suspect he missed the room salon information briefing.
I applaud Google standing up to Korea. I find it strange however that Google has no problem standing up to a market like Korea but can’t seem to find the guts when it comes to a market like China. Helping the Chinese government find political dissidents like a free Tibet movement to throw in jail or worse …hey no problem. But they really put their foot down for an identification system. Google is a bunch of hypocrites.
Korea is an analog IT power. It is not quit a digital IT power. Why? Because Korea’s government has a very stone age attitude on software, you know, the code that tells the hardware what to do.
Thus, Korea at this point makes great hardware but is almost absolutely clueless to the intellectual property component that without, would render the hardware almost worthless.
Thus, I’m not surprised Korea is behaving in this extremely backwards manner, but if it wants to be a true “IT Superpower” it needs a serious attitude adjustment… that and a development campus that at least mimics Silicon Valley and Redmond, WA. Locking 5,000 engineers in identical concrete buildings in Suwon is not going to induce any breakthroughs in software development.
I really don’t see what the big deal is about this Real Name Verification system. Even without this system, if the government wanted to find out who you really are, they will.
If I want to apply for or renew a passport, I have to provide 7 points worth of corroborating ID (state driver’s license, birth/naturalization certificate, etc). Don’t I have the right to travel anywhere I want with privacy and anonymity? I don’t see anyone protesting about this.
There is an illusion of privacy on the internet. In fact, there is none.
An argument can be made that the internet should be regulated rigorously. A least a couple of times a week, I spend several man-hours running my spyware scans and checking my firewall logs or clearing my spam box, I say, yep, this shit needs to be regulated.
#11,
Yes, if Google’s true intentions were to stand up against censorship, it wouldn’t comply to the Chinese government’s every whim.
I wonder if the Korean government is going to spin this into some kind of insult to Korea’s national pride because Google has folded to China’s demands (and we all know that many Korean nationalists like to think of themselves as superior to the Chinese).
#13,
As I suggested, they are probably motivated by protectionism, not censorship.
Or just buy a Mac. Unless your time is simply worthless.
Or switch to Linux.
Wowwee zowwee… What country are you getting your passport in? Last time I renewed my passport, all I had to send in was a couple recent passport photos and my old passport. Even for an original passport, all I would have to produce would be like, 2-3 pieces of ID, tops.
Wow. First of all, how many porn and warez sites do you visit per week? Secondly, I don’t see how an excess of tracking cookies should necessarily matter one way or another when discussing regulation of message board comments.
It’s funny how Mac users always, at the first mention of viruses/spyware/etc., sanctimoniously point out that Macs don’t have viruses.
You know, you could go live out in a desert, where there is literally no one and nothing around you for 100 miles. And you know what? There would be no crime.
It’s even funnier how Windows users, plagued by anxieties about viruses, spyware, etc., and the entropy of the Windows Registry, accept such an intolerable situation as “normal”.
24/7 video monitoring of the thousands of PC bangs? Is your knowledge of Korea really that limited?
Keep that one in the quiver. You’ll need it often.
Finding a Mac owner who’s not a sanctimonious blowhard is like finding a Korean who’s not a bloodline fanatic. Non-existant.
It has nothing to do with guts. China’s market is simply far more appealing, and the potential loss of the Korean market means next to nothing.
-existent.
#20,
Don’t kid yourself about the mythical superiority of Apple over Windows. Apple computers have the hardware that is found in any Windows PC.
Yup, OS X can run on any computer, but Apple’s TPM ‘security chip’ must first be detected by the OS before it can run. For the uniformed consumer, it justifies Apple’s inflated prices.
…the same hardware…
PS. Actually, the hardware installed on Apple computers isn’t exaclty at the cutting edge of technology.
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/113/1014113/apple-sneaks-in-security-chip
…uninformed…
Anybody who doesn’t recognize that the key difference is software ought not to be calling others “uninformed”.
inexistant, peut-etre? mais non, j’existe.
i’m a user of both systems-on separate machines. at the end of the day, they both have their limitations. can’t say that i can name anyone i know off the top of my head who likes both of them for separate purposes as i do. last time i ran linux on a personal machine it was hobbled by a lack of applications, but that was a suse-and a decade ago…
Geez, can’t you children think of something better than sniping each other over a couple of operating systems, one of which, unfortunately, has too often contributed in a negative manner to IT-Korea?
#27,
Right, so Apple is only in the business of selling software, not overpriced hardware.
#27,
Linux is free.
Let’s think about this for a minute. I presume that your time is practically worthless, but let’s assign a notional value to your time of the Federal minimum wage — which is currently US$7.25 per hour. Assume that “a couple” = 2, and “several” = 3.
Now, some of the time you can still work, as system-maintenance processes run in the background. Maybe 50% productivity lost.
Your Windows PC gobbles up to US$45 worth of your time each and every week (let’s say 50 weeks, since you might take a vacation and wouldn’t wrestle with spyware during your vacation). Fifty weeks of US$45 is up to US$2250 a year in lost productivity (or US$1125 at the 50% rate) — assuming that your time is not worth more than the Federal minimum wage. Mine is worth more.
Mac users endure none of that. The so-called “Apple tax” doesn’t look so bad when you take that into account.
Right. Instead Mac users spend those several hours per week writing posts about the supposed superiority of Apple, boring their friends/coworkers to death with stories about how much they love their Macs, or beating off to pictures of Steve Jobs. Congratulations for wasting your valuable time differently.
Apparently bluejives isn’t aware that he scan schedule AV/spyware scans to run automatically. Anyone that spends several hours per week doing the things he mentioned is either puter-retarded, 80 years old, or surfing midget-porn sites extensively.
I wondered about that too. I use Windows at home and at work, and keep both of them spic-and-span, and that takes me maybe an hour a month. But I do agree with NK’s point that the Internet could stand a bit more regulation to cut down on malware.
Personally, I’m puter-stupid (and a PC user – XP Pro). I am brutal impatient, though, and so I too the leap of uninstalling everything security-related over a year ago.
I run C-Cleaner and Spybot maybe once a month. Gmail scans all attachments, so that’s outsourced, and I’m choosy about downloading off the web. I’ve had no trouble at all, despite having no anti-virus protection whatsoever.
“Size doesn’t matter; it’s how you use it.”
My PC is bigger and more powerful than your Mac. Justify your choice for a less-powerful tool anyway you want.
Fascinates me how Mac folk never tire of arguing vs. windows. Anyway, back to the interesting topic.
#12–
Fantastic insight.
#32,
Linux is still safer and cheaper.
“Fascinates me how Mac folk never tire of arguing vs. windows.”
This is a chicken and egg thing, and is often a reflex to mindless windows users who ask you what computer you’ve got and then immediately tell you how useless it is.
The classic that comes to mind was that of a friend who owned an iMac but couldn’t get the printer working. He first asked a friend who couldn’t do anything and advised him that macs were all useless and he should get a windows computer. I happened by and asked what the problem was, had a look and in one minute fixed it. Wow, says the friend how do you that. I selected the printer in the printer preferences says I!!!
The irony being, the other guy giving the great advice was a computer researcher for Hewlett Packard research laboratories.
# 35,
How much did it time/cost you to calculate those figures at an almost worthless amount of $7.25 per hour/your hourly actual value?
How much time/$$$ will it take/cost you to grasp that a few can = 3, while several cannot = 3?
Cardinals are in 2nd place!
#39 – Agreed. My feelings on the Mac is best summed up by Mr. Charlie Brooker of the Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/feb/05/comment.media
On top of being a little acid-filled, spiteful, blathering idiot, this gentleman is also not too politically correct. Try uttering that in Hong Kong — where all 7 million inhabitants believe in Feng Shui… Equating people believing in 風水 to idiots, on top of being racist, is a little retarded…
#41 how exactly can you agree, and at the same time post the opposite.
Even without this system, if the government wanted to find out who you really are, they will.
I’m not afraid of the Korean government, and I think this post contains a few great examples of why (that is, they are incompetent).
I’m afraid of my personal information being stolen by hackers because I decided to sign up for some trivial forum to talk about cartoons. Korean Web security is worse than a joke. Every month there are stories of hundreds of thousands of people having their info “misplaced” by Net firms — and Seoul wants to require us to give it out MORE often? I don’t think so.
Oh, and let me just take the opportunity to say that the lack of functionality for foreigner numbers is just more evidence of what a willfully blinkered viewpoint most Korean Net companies have, and this measure will surely make the Korean Web even more difficult for expats to use.
Bingo!
This is a very good observation and, due to the widespread lack of security on computers in Korea, is a compelling reason not to have a real-name system that contains personal information or ID numbers. It would only fuel more cases of fraud or identity theft, thus politicians here have no grasp of just what the complications could be to this real-name system.
There should be an alternative form of ID for the net that is not directly tied to a citizen’s ID number so that sensitive information is not revealed.
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