Cowardly anonymity

By Park Moo-jong

What could be one of the most cowardly acts of today?

Traditionally, on top of the list of cowards used to be those who shoot or stab a man in the back. Those who beat women may be included on the list, too. Lying is also a signature behavior of cowards.

How about today when the internet virtually rules our life?

What's taking place these days testifies to our life in the age of distrust.

We are so accustomed knowingly or unknowingly to fakeness. It is not easy to know real from fake. We are living in a playground of fakes looking like real things.

Who is right or wrong? Which is right or wrong?

We are living in the age of distrust.

Anonymous comments on websites, writers of which, as I firmly believe, are cowards, are disturbing and splitting the nation, adding fuel to public distrust.

Basically and theoretically, the internet's capacity is to allow the use of pseudonyms and this is regarded as one of its greatest powers. In fact, dissident, marginalized and ignored people cannot make their voices heard.

But it also empowers netizens to make comments without restriction that may send specific persons into the depths of despair overnight. What we hardly say to someone's face is easily said when all we have to do is type and hit "send." As such online anonymity erodes important norms of social interaction.

In the name of "freedom of speech" for anonymous comments, most victims of online harassment do not have the time, tools and resources to unmask the harassers. The anonymous writers harass specific persons freely, even if anonymity cannot be an absolute right.

The latest controversy over internet comments with regard to the so-called "druking" scandal involving a ruling party lawmaker close to President Moon Jae-in is a "well-earned punishment" of the nation's news media that allowed the giant portal site Naver to use their news freely in return for fees with the sum depending on the influential power of each outlet.

Naver never fails to enjoy astronomical profits by using the news written by professional journalists for a flood of free comments about the stories by anonymous netizens.

Druking is the alias of a 49-year-old blogger supporting Moon. He attempted to manipulate opinions online by running a computer program enabling anyone to input multiple comments or likes on news reports on Naver.

The portal site makes the number of likes on a news report decide how high up it appears in the comment box below the article. The higher a comment appears, the more readers are assumed to endorse what it says.

Naver's macro software can repeatedly like a specific comment, thus artificially raising popularity and pushing it to the top. In such a way, it can make readers believe that the opinion expressed is what a majority of people believe.

All the problems are the result of anonymity.

What is exceptionally serious is the fact that public opinion on the portal site is controlled by a tiny percentage of Naver users _ 98,829 of some 13 million people who read news stories on Naver as of April 22, or a mere 0.7 percent of anonymously posted comments. Notably, nearly 50 percent of the comments were about political topics.

In comparison, comments on Facebook or Twitter are generally real-named with photos or personal information. But those on Naver and other portal sites here are anonymous, enabling fake likes and comments.

To solve this deep-rooted evil, the National Assembly should roll its sleeves up as soon as possible to produce necessary legislation to prohibit local portal sites from using news stories from news outlets.

In particular, the news outlets, the eventual victims of the portal sites' use of their products, are required to unite to change the current system, in cooperation with the political world.

The ill effects of the portal sites' practice have already proved the appropriateness to have them close their internal news platforms and offer direct links to external media outlets' websites.

It is a consolation to hear that the three opposition parties agreed to work together to close the portal sites' internal news platforms and eliminate comment boxes. The ruling Democratic Party of Korea should be no exception. It can become a victim some time or other of the current formula that enables the manipulation of public opinion through anonymous comments on the internet.

Prohibiting netizens from writing comments on portal websites, using either aliases or real names, may trigger a controversy over whether it violates the Constitution that guarantees "freedom of speech."

However, few will dare upload comments denouncing or harassing specific individuals who appear in news stories, if they have to do so using their real names.

If any netizens intend to express their opinions about specific news, they have to come out to identify themselves confidently first of all. Otherwise, they'd better keep silent.

Online interactions that personally attack, insult, shame or target other individuals should never be done anonymously.

Park Moo-jong is a standing adviser of The Korea Times. He served as president-publisher of the nation's first daily English newspaper founded in 1951 from 2004 to 2014 after working as a reporter since 1974. He can be reached at moojong@ktimes.com or emjei29@gmail.com.