By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
The nation’s human rights agency said Wednesday the current Telecommunications Law infringes upon the freedom of expression protected under the Constitution and asked the judiciary to take a cautious approach in dealing with relevant cases.
The law (article 47, clause 1) bans the spread of misleading information with the intention of ``damaging the public interest’’ via telecommunication infrastructure including the Internet.
The law created a stir after online commentator Park Dae-sung, better known by his alias ``Minerva’’ was indicted on charges of breaking the law, which sees violators face a prison term of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won. Park was acquitted in April.
Progressive activists claim the Lee Myung-bak administration is using it as a tool to gag anti-government voices in cyberspace, which played a key role in touching off nationwide protests last year.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said the law is so vague that it’s hard for law enforcement to judge whom should be subject to it, adding similar laws in other countries have either disappeared or remain unused.
``The law punishes those who start rumors without assessing actual damage caused by them. The international community has expressed grave concern over this, saying it may lead to excessive restriction of people’s expression,’’ the commission said in a statement.
The NHRC said in most democratic countries, such a law has been scrapped or not used. For instance, the Canadian Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that a law, which punished an activist for distributing leaflets containing groundless rumors on the holocaust during World War II, was unconstitutional. The court said in the ruling that groundless news is also protected under freedom of expression.
``Since the law was enacted 45 years ago, it has never been applied except for some recent cases, including Minerva. This means the law is unnecessary and outdated,’’ the commission said.
In January, Minerva filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court. He questioned the definition of the term ``public interest,’’ calling it ambiguous, while pointing out that not all who ``spread false information’’ are arrested. The court is expected to hand down a ruling this year.
pss@koreatimes.co.kr
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