

Tightened rules come as part of gov't fight against online pornography



By Jhoo Dong-chan

Tightened governmental restriction of online pornography is triggering protest from some Internet users who claim that their privacy could be at risk.

According to revised ordinances of the Telecommunications Business Act that took effect April 16, web and peer-to-peer (P2P) service providers, such as Pruna and Bitsnoop, are required to block searches for, as well as uploading and downloading of obscene material.

This is to protect minor subscribers from pornography distributed through these networks.

The revised ordinances also require the firms to take technological measures to send a warning notice to pornography uploaders and store the data logs of their file servers for at least two years.

Anyone caught violating the act will face up to two years in jail or a fine of 100 million won ($92,400).

The measures raised a grave concern among Internet users, especially over a clause on punishment against anyone who uploads pornographic material to P2P sites.

Because P2P users are both suppliers and consumers of content ― any content is automatically uploaded at the same time after it is downloaded ― any individual users can be subject to punishment.

Some Internet users said that any porn files downloaded before the new rules took effect will be uploaded when they use P2P sites. They also worry that the tightened rules will excessively limit each individual's sexual freedom.

Ma Kwang-soo, a Korean literature professor at Yonsei University and author of a book banned for its sexual contents, criticized the government's stance, describing it as a "reign of terror against sex."

However, the nation's communication watchdog, the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), said that the purpose of the revision is to reduce the circulation of obscene materials.

"We are not targeting non-profit individual downloaders and uploaders," said a KCC official. "But those individuals who upload mass obscene materials for commercial purpose or spread porn of ordinary people will be subject to punishment."

From 2007, the KCC and police have operated the so-called "Nuri Cops," a squad of nearly 800 volunteers who help government censorship of obscene materials by patrolling Internet sites.

They have jointly arrested more than 6,400 people for producing, selling and circulating porn.

Despite this crackdown against online porn, there is no sign that the number of sex crimes will be reduced anytime soon.

According to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, more than 18,000 people were arrested for alleged sexual assaults in 2010, up from less than 7,000 in 2000. Meantime, sex abusers against minors reached 1,000 in 2010 from about 180 in 2000.

"No countries in the world have ever reported that banning porn results in a drop in sex crimes," said Milton Diamond, a sociology professor at University of Hawaii, in a recent report on sex crimes.

"It has been found everywhere it was scientifically investigated that as pornography has increased in availability, sex crimes have either decreased or not increased."

Critics also say that it is unrealistic to do a full-scale monitoring on the nation's tech-savvy citizens where 90 percent of their homes have high-speed Internet access and more than 40 million of the 50 million population own smartphones.

"Honestly, it is impossible to completely wipe them out," a Nuri Cop official, surnamed Lim, said. "Millions of porn contents are circulating everyday on Internet. It's like sweeping snow in a blizzard."

The government, however, seems unrelenting in its fight against online pornography.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission (KCSC) established a task force to monitor obscene materials last month.

The team shut down "Lezhin Comics," the nation's biggest adult webtoon service provider with 7 million subscribers, on March 24, arguing that a few of its Japanese comics contain some sadistic and masochistic sexual content.

After increasing criticism that it was an excessive prohibition, the commission lifted the shutdown, reversing its decision only a day later.

Lezhin was awarded with the prime minister's award in 2014 as a good example of the "creative economy," a key objective of the Park Geun-hye administration.

"I do not understand the government's double standard," said a Lezhin Comics' user. "They gave the site a prize last year and shut it down this year."