King and Crown Prince offer condolence to Iranian president over the deadly port explosion    stc reports strong first-quarter 2025 results with 11% rise in net profit    Virgin Atlantic celebrates one month of nonstop service between London and Riyadh    Saudi Awwal Bank records SR2.1 billion net profit after zakat and income tax for 1Q25    Mahmoud Abbas appoints Hussein Al-Sheikh as PLO vice president in key succession move    Saudi Arabia's entertainment sector attracts 76 million visitors in 2024    Third round of US-Iran nuclear talks concludes with cautious optimism    Multiple casualties reported after vehicle drives into crowd at Vancouver street festival    Duran leads Al Nassr past Yokohama Marinos into AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Al Ahli cruise past Buriram into AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi Arabia offers condolences to Iran following deadly Bandar Abbas port explosion    Saudi Arabia deports 12,866 illegal residents in a week    SFDA clears first 44-ton medical shipment for Hajj pilgrims    Ministry of Hajj issued over 150,000 Nusuk cards for the Hajj of 2025    Saudi orchestra to perform at Sydney Opera House in May    Al Hilal thrash Gwangju to reach AFC Champions League Elite semi-finals    Saudi Theater Commission launches its Work and Learn Project in UK    The season has begun — and one comment shook us all    Average life expectancy in Saudi Arabia rises to78.8 years    Famed Philippine film star Nora Aunor dies at 71    Pakistani star's Bollywood return excites fans and riles far right    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Bruised S. Korean govt takes on ‘infodemics'
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 04 - 08 - 2008

South Korea's unpopular young government is having second thoughts about the benefits of running the world's most wired society.
The mass access to the Internet, which helped ex-CEO Lee Myung-bak to his resounding presidential election victory, went on to become the instrument helping shatter that popularity in just five months in office.
Now the government is working on new rules to rein in the excesses of its netizens and bring some control to the information -- and disinformation -- that bombards the nation's computer screens.
“We have to guard against ‘infodemics,' in which inaccurate, false information is disseminated, prompting social unrest that spreads like an epidemic,” Lee told parliament early in July.
Lee has every reason to take it personally.
Barely had he taken office in February than he was accused of putting the nation's health at risk by agreeing to import US beef, long banned because of concerns over mad cow disease.
Much of the fear, at times hysteria, was fanned by blogs and discussion boards that crammed into South Korea's Internet space. It helped trigger mass protests that daily clogged central Seoul in late spring and early summer as tens of thousands took to the streets to demand US beef be kept from South Korean tables.
An early hot topic was a scientific study, heavily distorted in the retelling but widely believed judging by Internet postings, that Koreans had a genetic predisposition to catching the disease.
Another was that a beef by-product used in the manufacture of diapers put the nation's babies at risk of succumbing to bovine spongiform encephalopathy.
But the government argues its concern goes beyond attacks on its policies, and rules are needed to bring a largely uncontrolled media into line with its traditional counterpart.
Stories abound of people being cruelly and very publicly hounded on the Internet, sometimes to the point of suicide.
Personal information too has become increasingly vulnerable. Earlier this year, the country's biggest online market place was hacked and enough information to identify some 13 million people released to anyone with an Internet connection – which includes most of South Korea's population.
The Justice Ministry is working on what it calls a Cyber Defamation Law.
“The reality is that we lack the means to effectively deal with harmful Internet messages,” a ministry official said.
The Korean Communications Commission, which regulates the industry, has come up with its own rules to oblige portals to suspend sites stepping outside the limits and force Websites to use real names of anyone posting comments.
The commission says the measures are designed to improve security and reduce the spread of false information.
Predictably, voices are rising that the government moves are attempts to erode freedom in a country that has had only two deades of democratic elections.
“The regulations violate the autonomy of the Internet and are an effective tool for tighter media control by the government,” said Lee Han-ki, senior editor at the popular citizen news Website OhMyNews (www.ohmynews.com).
“The regulations would bring about a reverse in the advancement of the Internet media as a whole.”
But an official with one major local portal, who asked not to be identified, said he thought the commission was right to get tough.
It was also backed by some academics, including Kweon Sang-hee, a journalism and mass communications professor at Sungkyunkwan University.
“South Korea is a leading testbed for the IT industry and the Internet media here certainly has a frontier-like aspect in leading experimental democracy.
“But the Internet media should also serve public good, and compared with other countries, South Korea has lacked the institutional control over the media, in which people tend to expand and reproduce unverified, one-sided information.”
South Korea's netizens remain unconvinced.
“If you want to sue me with the Cyber Defamation Law, go ahead. History will charge you with insulting South Koreans,” read one posting.


Clic here to read the story from its source.