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Stop
Korean Online Censorship!!!
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Police arrested Kim Kang-pil, a member of the Democratic Labor Party (DLP) in South Korea. Kim uploaded several materials related to North Korea onto the bulletin board of DLP? website. Prosecution claimed his actions violated the National Security Law, Article 7, Clause 1 (an act advantageous to the enemy) and Clause 5 (bringing the materials of profit to the enemy).
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The Joint Committee against Government Internet Censorship asserted that the ICEC violated freedoms of conscience, expression and communication, which is supported by the Constitution.
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April 22 is the Day of Information Communication in South Korea. We should prosecute government censorship because this system represses people's internet rights and freedom of speech. The Information and Communication Ethics Committee (ICEC) is controlling internet content with the standard of "dangerous" or "harmful", not "illegal." This system violates the freedom of expression that is guaranteed by the constitution, and, moreover, violates international law. Also, the government is the personnel manager of the chairman and all members of the ICEC. So, the power of this committee is unduly powerful and consequently, places undue pressure on the civil sector to align themselves with its stance.
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Under the slogan, "No to the Internet Contents Rating System! We demand the resignation of the Secretary of the Ministry of Information & Communication," a coalition of activists, students, teachers, journalists, artists, and union leaders staged a sixty-day hunger strike that ended on December 20th.
Despite below-zero degree weather, we continued the struggle. Our reason--on November 1, the MIC and the Internet & Communication Ethics Committee (ICEC) forcibly implemented the Internet Contents Rating System. All websites are now assigned a grade according to a ICEC-formulated criteria on "harmful content" for minors. This grade leaves an electronic signature on the webpage.
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2001 Anti-Censorship Campaign in South Korea
Show
solidarity with Korean activists fighting online censorship.
Year 2000, the Korean
Ministry of Information & Communication (MIC) of
the Kim Dae-jung government tried to pass the Korean
Communication Decency Act. The Act included a very dangerous
Internet Content Rating System provision. So, many Korean
progressive groups fought against the legislation and
finally, before being passed, the clauses related to
the Content Rating System were deleted from the Act.
But, year 2001, the MIC snuck new provisions
relating to a Content Rating System into the enforcement
ordinance of the Act and announced that it would be
carried out from July 1st. In addition to a content
rating system provision, this enforcement ordinance
also has very strict clause making online demonstrations
illegal. For example, writing protest messages on internet
bulletin boards, sending many protest messages to one
server (like the MIC server), and Virtual sit-ins (known
as, "DOS" - Denial of Service) etc. So, after
July 1st, most online demonstrations will be illegal.
Korean Progressive groups, including the "Collaboration
Action Group Against Information and Communication Censorship"
(CAG) have organized events against the Act over the
last two months, such as protest performances, one person
demonstrations in front of the MIC, Press Conferences,
and on/off-line debating conferences etc. However, the
government has ignored these people's voices.
We strongly encourage international progressive groups,
including NGOs (Non-government Organizations), CSGs
(Civil Society Groups) etc. to join our international
solidarity struggle. We attach our struggle newsletters.
Before July 1st, hundreds of Korean progressive
groups are preparing actions, such as the following: |
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1.
Online Website Strike
How : GAG will provide a common protesting web page.
All participating groups will make a common web
page and place it so it appears when people first
enter the site. This common web page will contain
protest messages against this policy and include
links to bulletin boards where people can discuss
it.
2. Send
online Protest Messages to Cheong Wa Dae (Korean Government),
the MIC, and Korean Information Communication Ethics
Committee by E-mail
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Cheong Wa Dae
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Korean Ministry of Information & Communication
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The Information and Communication Ethics Committee
3. Send
off-line Protest Messages by telephone or Fax.
* Cheong
Wa Dae
* Korean
Ministry of Information & Communication
* The
Information and Communication Ethics Committee
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