Malicious Internet Warriors Dodge Real-Name System

A set of writings posted in response to a news article on the abduction of 23 Koreans in Afghanistan earlier this month. Postings underlined in red are problematic ones, which continue to survive despite the Internet real-name system.

By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter

``Execute the hostages! They deserve the abduction'' ``Families of hostages should pay for the money, which the Taliban request for releasing them.''

Those are just a few of the postings that have been flooding local Web portal sites last week over the reports on the 23 Koreans kidnapped in Afghanistan.

The Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) agonizes over the case since such postings mean that the Internet real-name system is not effective.

The MIC urged the country's two leading Web portals _ Naver and Daum _ to embrace the real-name formula on July 1 to test the effects of the new policy.

Under the regulations, users of Naver and Daum have been forced to provide their identification data including their names and resident registration numbers to make online postings.

The rationale of the initiative: It will discourage Web surfers from posting harassing or defaming writings in fear that law enforcement authorities can trace them.

Yet, Web portals point out things didn't evolve as the government intended.

``The measure has hardly worked up until now because terrible postings continue to inundate our news pages or bulletin boards,'' Daum spokeswoman Jody Chung said.

``The case of Afghan abduction amply demonstrates the Internet real-name system is not an answer to problematic postings in cyberspace,'' she said.

Chung said Daum employees are struggling to obliterate the awful postings because such ones continue to appear.

Policy Expansion

The MIC evaluates the effect differently.

``The test run of the real-name system at Web portals showed that the number of nasty postings plummeted this month,'' MIC Director Kang Sin-ook said.

``We think the number will drop further down the road when people have a better handle on the real-name system. We hope things will improve,'' he said.

Under such reasoning, the MIC expanded the real-name formula to other frequently visited Web sites on Monday in addition to Naver and Daum.

As a result, those who log onto Web sites of 1,150 public agencies are required to present their identification information before writing any article.

The system also applies to 21 Internet portals where more than 300,000 visit everyday and 14 online media sites of which daily visitors are upside of 200,000.

``Some people seem to be discontent with the real-name formula because they expected too much from it. In the end, they will think differently,'' Kang said.

``In particular, they will recognize its effect in subsequent months when numerical comparisons are carried out,'' he said.

The relevant law stipulates that the MIC can oblige the application of the real-name system to smaller Web sites where more than 100,000 travel per day.

However, Kang said the ministry has no plan to do so immediately. It has yet to fix when or whether to mandate such smaller sites to embrace the real-name system.

Controversies

Originally most Internet users were against the real-name system in 2003 when the government first attempted to phase it in.

Yet, opinion changed in 2005 in the aftermath of an incident involving a photograph of a 20-something female who didn't clean up her pet's excrement in the subway.

The picture was posted on the Web and Internet users relentlessly attacked the girl, turning the event into a kind of nationwide cyber lynching.

Her name, age, school and other private data were illegally unveiled but the police failed to catch the violators because they disclosed the data without exposing their real names.

The incident, which showed that ordinary citizens as well as public figures can fall victim to cyber attacks, rang alarm bells for many people.

Plus, the increasing number of cyber crimes prompted people to oppose the anonymous attackers. The number of online crimes stood at a mere 119,000 in 2002 according to the police. But the figure soared to 165,000 in 2003 and surpassed 200,000 the following year.

On the backs of such support, the MIC decided to introduce the real-name system and embarked on it this month on the belief that it will dispel terrible offensives and groundless criticism on the Internet.

``The rampant social malaise caused by online anonymity should be corrected. The real-name formula will make people more careful about postings since they can be tracked down,'' Kang said.

``In other words, things will become tougher for cyber criminals, who have generated various problems like defamation and private data exposures based on anonymity,'' he said.

However, there was strong opposition from the beginning that the policy would end up increasing the risk of identity theft regarding the data used to access to big Web sites.

The greatest concern is the resident registration number, which is necessary in most cases to login to the Web sites adopting the real-name scheme.

As an equivalent to the social security number of the United States, it includes too much information _ someone's birthday, gender, birth region and first registration region. When ending up in the wrong hands, the number can be exploited for various crimes.

Some experts even contend that the real-name scheme violates constitutional rights on free speech.

``The real-name regulation may be unconstitutional because it restricts people's privacy and their rights to speak without revealing their identities,'' Prof. Han Sang-hie at Konkuk University said.

Han also works for a leading civic group, the People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy.

voc200@koreatimes.co.kr