Online Semi-anonymity Bill Raises Controversy

(image: Korea Bizwire)

SEOUL, May 3 (Korea Bizwire) — A new ‘semi-anonymous’ policy is raising controversy as it aims to make public the IDs of every account that makes posts or comments online.

Last month, the National Assembly’s Science, ICT, Future Planning, Broadcasting and Communications Committee proposed a bill that will introduce the semi-anonymity policy, which obligates online service platforms with more than 100,000 daily visitors to make public the IDs of all users making posts or comments. Any violation could result in fines ofup to 30 million (US$26,700).

According to a survey conducted by Hankook Research last November, 80 percent of participants supported the idea of introducing semi-anonymity. Only 9 percent thought otherwise.

Once the bill is passed, South Korea’s major search portals including Naver and Daum, as well as other websites and forums, will be subject to the policy.

Outside the National Assembly, however, government agencies, businesses, and civic groups are opposing the new policy, claiming that it is ineffective in preventing malicious comments, and violates freedom of speech.

The largest hurdle faced by the bill is a 2012 ruling by the Supreme Court that decided that an anti-anonymity policy would be ‘unconstitutional’.

Naver and Daum, South Korea’s two largest internet portals, already have a system in place that only allows accounts verified by the user’s real name to make posts or comments. Imposing this policy on foreign social network platforms is another matter.

“The anti-anonymity policy introduced in 2007 was ineffective in preventing malicious comments,” an industry official said. “Another problem was that the policy could not be imposed on foreign social platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.”

H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)