500 websites participate in strike against the Korean Communication Decency Act
From noon 29th June until noon 2nd July, almost 500 websites went on strike in defiance against the enactment of the enforcement ordinance of the Korean Communication Decency Act, which took effect from 1st July
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500 websites participate in strike against the Korean Communication Decency Act
From noon 29th June until noon 2nd July, almost 500 websites went on strike in defiance against the enactment of the enforcement ordinance of the Korean Communication Decency Act, which took effect from 1st July. Participants closed off their websites leaving a page that said 'No to Internet Censorship!' (as can be seen as you enter the PICIS website) and started off a cyber rally at the free-board of the Ministry of Information & Communication(MIC) website, where slogans from hundreds of demonstrators went up in minutes. The demonstrators then 'marched' to the boards of Chongwadae and the Information & Communication Ethics Committee(ICEC) to continue their rally.
Last year, the MIC tried to pass the Korean Communication Decency Act(CDA), modelled after the US Communication Decency Act enacted in 1996. However, the Korean version is an upgrade compared to the one in US by the fact that it has a stronger standard of screening (content rating system) - including the censorship of almost any reference to sexuality and also of political viewpoints that the government finds 'endangering'. The government contests that the CDA is a means of protecting teenagers from 'harmful' internet contents such as pornography and violence, but is in fact a method of regulating teenagers under the name of 'ethics' and extends further to censor political opinion that differs from the government.
Korean activists from 14 organizations formed the Collaboration Action Against Information and Communication Censorship (CAG) and fought against the legislature. The government eventually backed down by deleting the provisions on the content rating system from the Act. But this move turned out to be a false gesture, as this year the government suddenly announced that it will reinsert the provisions and enact the enforcement ordinance as of 1st July. The reinserted clause states that all public PC centres, schools and libraries must install a software that screens out 'harmful sites'. MIC's Information & Communication Ethics Committee made a list of 108,00 so-called 'harmful sites'. They include websites of organizations fighting for homosexual rights, the website of the Menstruation Festival (annual women's culture festival), sites that include the 'Workers Front' (a monthly review) among others - a manifestation of the truth behind the CDA. The ordinance also includes banning of on-line demonstrations, which many activists these days are resorting to for broader and international solidarity. Thus posting protest messages on bulletin boards, sending series of protest emails to one specific server and virtual sit-in's (a.k.a DOS - "Denial of Service") will be illegal.
This movement in Korea has drawn the attention of many activists outside of Korea. Richard Stollman, Association for Progressive Communications, Paper Tiger (US), ProlPosition (Germany), Nodo50 (Spain), Minihub and C20 (Australia), IID-Philippines and many others have sent in messages of solidarity or posted banners.
Never before has there been such a massive cyber website strike, with hundreds of organizations, communities and personal websites participating in the strike. It was a struggle against the government's attempt to censor and intercept the peoples' freedom of expression and the freedom of association. The ICEC, which has been already identified to be a contradiction to the constitution, will arbitrarily judge according to its 'ethics' what should or should not be read and seen by the Korean people. Neo-liberalism, while it advocates total freedom for the economy, has restricted political, social and cultural space. While economic regulations have been dismantled for the benefit of capital accumulation, the noose around the social and cultural has been tightened. There is an extensive backlash against women and minorities in all spheres of life. The enactment of the Content Decency Act is in line with the retrogression, as well a suppression of possibilities of forming alternatives through the internet.
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