Futurize Korea

With a huge number of Internet users, the Korean government has a huge interest in the social effects of the Internet and creating regulations to any problems it perceives.

First, the Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) announced they would like to expand their oversight over Internet protocol television (IPTV) networks and any other video transmitted over the Internet:

The commission is currently conducting a survey on the content provided by IPTV, P2P services, online storage systems and mobile data services and their accessibility to consumers. VOD, data broadcasting and user-generated content will also be put under the microscope.

JoongAng Daily: Do new Internet regulations curb free speech? (August 13, 2008)

Online game developers are frustrating gamers as they try to control chatting in their games with profanity filters. And the Korea Game Industry Agency is also receiving attention for their recent publication of an 8,508 word list of words that it found indecent:

`` Banning words doesn't make much of a difference, as you can always deliberately misspell to get the words through. And what are you going to do about voice chats? The restrictions just annoy everybody as they interrupt even the most casual conversations,'' she said.

Game companies have been preventing the use of foul and sexually explicit language for some time now, but critics wonder whether the restrictions are becoming excessive.

The Korean government is also taking an active role in releasing new content filtering software for parents:

For this, the ministry has worked with some private firms to develop the program and upgraded existing ``nanny'' programs. It recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Korea Communications Standards Commission for the project.
It will soon name a program developer and finish all test-runs by mid-February.

And last year the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs awarded sites it found to promote good cyber ethics in Korea:

The ministry has developed a cyber ethics index with the Cybercommunication Academic Society to look over 33 portals, game sites, peer-to-peer programs and other online material.

The Web sites were examined in 17 categories, asking, among other questions, whether the portals have special policies for underage users, whether access to materials banned to minors is properly monitored, whether they designated prohibited vocabulary and if they update terms regularly.

OpenNet Initiative: South Korea Profile (May 10, 2007):

Although South Korea has the highest Internet penetration rate in the world, the state imposes substantial legal and technological controls over online expression. South Korea filters a large amount of content that supports or praises North Korea, South Korea’s historical political adversary, as well as a small number of sites devoted to gambling and pirated software.

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