Lady Veteran
2008-05-26 20:34:09 UTC
Chat Room Bullies Face End to Their Internet Anonymity
Leo Lewis
June 29, 2007
URL:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2005592.ece
Cyber-bullies who plague internet chat rooms with obscene and
insulting comments will be banned under the first national scheme to
strip them of their anonymity. People going online will be forced to
provide their real names and social security numbers under a new law
that makes internet portals responsible for policing message boards
and weblogs. The law has been introduced in South Korea, and is
certain to be closely monitored by other countries where there is
concern over online abuse.
The move, which is decried by some as an overly fierce infringement of
online liberties, aims to curb the most damaging excesses of so-called
"keyboard warriors" people who concoct sex-scandals, fraud
allegations and other libels that chiefly target figures in the public
eye. At least two Korean celebrities are believed to have committed
suicide after being subjected to long-running and vicious internet
campaigns.
British experts said that cyber-bullying had increased "significantly"
in the past five years, and was now a "serious problem" that accounted
for a third of all bullying. Peter Smith, a professor of psychology at
Goldsmiths College, London, said, however, that the South Korean
measures seemed "heavy-handed" as a first step, and that a better
approach would be to educate people about their rights when they are
the victims of abusive posts.
"At the moment an ISP in Britain cannot be forced to identify a person
who has made a post in a forum unless there is a legal requirement to
do so," said Professor Smith, who is chairman of the research group at
the AntiBullying Alliance. "Victims should be aware, however, that
they can request an ISP to instruct a site to take material down if it
is threatening or harassing." A set of guidelines soon to be issued by
the Department for Education and Skills aimed to ensure that children
and their parents were familiar with the steps they could take if they
found themselves victims of cyber-bullying, he said.
The experience in South Korea, and the reaction of its politicians to
the scourge of cyber-bullying is likely to guide governments elsewhere
that have begun to look East to Korea and Japan to learn how the next
life-changing impact of the internet will take shape. Because it has
the worlds largest population of broadband internet users, Korea has
been the first to experience the social impact of the next generation
internet, known as Web 2.0. It has led the way in online gaming and
suffered from some of its unintended consequences including attacks in
the real world for something that happenbed only in cyberspace. The
legal change is also expected to have a limited impact on cyberspace
bullying between schoolchildren a factor thought to be behind rising
suicide levels in South Korea and increased cases of physical violence
in schools.
Under the new law intenet portals will be required to give up the real
identities of any keyboard warriors when the victims of their
cyber-abuse try to track them down to sue them.
Yesterday a spokesman for Daum, a portal site that runs bulletin
boards and boasts about 38 million users in South Korea, said it had
changed its site so that users must submit their name and social
security number before their message is accepted by the server.
Another 33 sites each with more than 300,000 visits per day are
affected by the law.
LV-posted in SSFA
"I rode a tank and held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank."
---Sympathy for the Devil-The Rolling Stones
--------------------------------------------
"A fanatic cannot change his mind and will not
change the subject."
---Winston Churchill
----------------------------------------------
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com
Leo Lewis
June 29, 2007
URL:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article2005592.ece
Cyber-bullies who plague internet chat rooms with obscene and
insulting comments will be banned under the first national scheme to
strip them of their anonymity. People going online will be forced to
provide their real names and social security numbers under a new law
that makes internet portals responsible for policing message boards
and weblogs. The law has been introduced in South Korea, and is
certain to be closely monitored by other countries where there is
concern over online abuse.
The move, which is decried by some as an overly fierce infringement of
online liberties, aims to curb the most damaging excesses of so-called
"keyboard warriors" people who concoct sex-scandals, fraud
allegations and other libels that chiefly target figures in the public
eye. At least two Korean celebrities are believed to have committed
suicide after being subjected to long-running and vicious internet
campaigns.
British experts said that cyber-bullying had increased "significantly"
in the past five years, and was now a "serious problem" that accounted
for a third of all bullying. Peter Smith, a professor of psychology at
Goldsmiths College, London, said, however, that the South Korean
measures seemed "heavy-handed" as a first step, and that a better
approach would be to educate people about their rights when they are
the victims of abusive posts.
"At the moment an ISP in Britain cannot be forced to identify a person
who has made a post in a forum unless there is a legal requirement to
do so," said Professor Smith, who is chairman of the research group at
the AntiBullying Alliance. "Victims should be aware, however, that
they can request an ISP to instruct a site to take material down if it
is threatening or harassing." A set of guidelines soon to be issued by
the Department for Education and Skills aimed to ensure that children
and their parents were familiar with the steps they could take if they
found themselves victims of cyber-bullying, he said.
The experience in South Korea, and the reaction of its politicians to
the scourge of cyber-bullying is likely to guide governments elsewhere
that have begun to look East to Korea and Japan to learn how the next
life-changing impact of the internet will take shape. Because it has
the worlds largest population of broadband internet users, Korea has
been the first to experience the social impact of the next generation
internet, known as Web 2.0. It has led the way in online gaming and
suffered from some of its unintended consequences including attacks in
the real world for something that happenbed only in cyberspace. The
legal change is also expected to have a limited impact on cyberspace
bullying between schoolchildren a factor thought to be behind rising
suicide levels in South Korea and increased cases of physical violence
in schools.
Under the new law intenet portals will be required to give up the real
identities of any keyboard warriors when the victims of their
cyber-abuse try to track them down to sue them.
Yesterday a spokesman for Daum, a portal site that runs bulletin
boards and boasts about 38 million users in South Korea, said it had
changed its site so that users must submit their name and social
security number before their message is accepted by the server.
Another 33 sites each with more than 300,000 visits per day are
affected by the law.
LV-posted in SSFA
"I rode a tank and held a general's rank
When the blitzkrieg raged and the bodies stank."
---Sympathy for the Devil-The Rolling Stones
--------------------------------------------
"A fanatic cannot change his mind and will not
change the subject."
---Winston Churchill
----------------------------------------------
Posted Via Usenet.com Premium Usenet Newsgroup Services
----------------------------------------------------------
http://www.usenet.com