Dear editor,
Recently The Korea Times printed two articles concerning regulating the Internet and going after cyber bullies. I found the arguments supporting such a move compelling, not because anonymous people were attacking famous people but because anonymous people were smearing, libeling and personally attacking humans without credible evidence or proof.
I certainly have no respect for such people as they think they have the freedom to say whatever they want, whenever they want however they want. This is just not so for although there is such a thing as freedom of expression there is no such thing as freedom of manner.
Too many of these cyber bullies cannot distinguish between the two and abuse their freedoms for whatever perverted sense of entertainment they get out of attacking those who have done them no wrong.
Just because a poster, using the same freedom of expression as the cyber bullies enjoy, states their point of view does it mean that others have the right to squelch that freedom by various forms of abuse?
The freedom of expression is extended to all not a few. No one has granted cyber bullies the authority to abuse the Internet, nor is it their personal playground nor do they own the forums they so recklessly abuse.
It is obvious that the foreigner cyber bullies have forgotten the lessons of their youth which have taught them that it is wrong to abuse others or to derive entertainment at the expense of others, etc.
What these cyber bullies also forget is that the Biblical rules of morality apply to and rule over the Internet and their online behavior. Just because one is anonymous does it mean their violations are not applied to them, they do not get a free pass nor to be forgotten when the comments are long deleted from the web page.
We need to remove these bullies from the Internet as we know they will not filter their own actions. Yes there are laws in place which help govern the misdeeds of these people plus there are avenues for recourse; but what good are such when gathering evidence or proof is near to impossible.
In fact, no one can prove I actually wrote this piece even though there is a name attached to it. Cyber bullying is every `net user's problem not just the government's, for you could be their next target.
David Thiessen
Icheon, Gyeonggi Province