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Korea Fighting Pseudonyms on the 'Net
ThreeDayMonk writes "According to the Chosun Ilbo, Korean net firms, pushed by the government, are moving to require message board users to use their real names: 'The current regulation that requires those who post messages on government and public organizations' web sites to use their real names is likely to be expanded soon to private portal sites.' The Japanese version of the page has more information. Apparently, citizen ID numbers will be used to verify identity."
"Apparently, citizen ID numbers will be used to verify identity." Sounds like Big Brother to me. Would be effective in stopping SPAM though.
For all you idiots who'd like to see this measure universally applied, I've got two words for you: Salam Pax. You think he'd have been posting if the only way to do it was with his government ID# attached?
I'm pretty sure he wouldn't, and I'm pretty sure enough of the trolls and spammers would find ways to keep going that we wouldn't miss them.
Because, apart from governmental repercussions, there is peer pressure and societal disapproval for unpopular speech. If you force people to use their real names, you will get much less disagreement. Which is, of course, just what repressive governments like.
think about it. maybe a society where no one has to hide behind pseudonyms to speak their mind is more "pro-free-speech" than one where people feel the need not to compromise themselves or something by saying their opinion.
People have thought about this for a couple of thousand years. Many great works of literature, social criticism, reportage, and political science have been published under pseudonyms. Pseudonyms are essential for free speech.
If you want to get rid of the need for pseudonyms, you have to change human nature (peer pressure, retaliation, flaming, all that) first. Good luck.
And so ends free speech.
People use pseudonyms so that they can speak freely. So they post something that some nutcase doesn't like, then the nutcase hunts that person down and whacks them.
Or people want to speak out against the government. Which seem to be what the government there wants to put an end to..
Fear the government that fears you..
When the government restricts your right to speak freely on any subject, no matter who it may offend, it is time to abolish that government....
At the slightest sign of a power vacuum or confusion, ol' Puffy Hair would push over the US and South Korean border guards like matchsticks, and tapdance all the(-very- short) way to the South Korean capitol, for his own version of 'reunification'. Resource-starved countries with huge militaries, time has proven over and over, are extremely dangerous.
North Korea is so far into the dark ages, and Kim is so mentally deranged and desperate(the whole "I'VE GOT NUCLEAR WEAPONS, REALLY, I DO!" isn't working so hot for him), that at this point, he'd do anything and everything to get the resources and land South Korea has. It would, without a doubt, start World War III- that country is so armed to the teeth, and its people so completely, totally brainwashed...coalition soldiers would be fighting every man, woman and child strong enough to pick up a shovel or pitchfork. Kim is no Saddam- his people have been completely brainwashed into loving him. It would be a slaughter on both sides.
So, yeah, I think starting a coup in SK would be a really, really, really stupid idea.
Personal liberty and the right to vehemently question one's leadership shouldn't be questioned, regardless of what type of place you live in. If where you live thinks the idea of free speech is "wrong" then you live int he wrong place or the leaders are fucktards.
What are you, Wesley Crusher, with a fresh mouth?
Please help metamoderate.
The *most* violent and frequent protests in the world occured in South Korea during the hey-day of dictatorship in the 80s. The student protests in Korea were a major reason why Korea is a democracy today.
I was there for that. Obviously you weren't.btw, I did study history, from Chosun to the present day...
Korea is an entire nation. Those large, violent, frequent protests that you saw on TV weren't what you saw on TV. I was there and the prostests were actually pathetically small. Usually it was less than two hundred college students. They just got a lot of coverage in your country. Go one block away from the protest and no one cares, no one is interested.
Samsung took back my unlocked bootloader because Google wants me to rent movies. They're both evil.
It also gets rid of dissident political speech quite effectively.
:-)
I think that's more important to protect than the benefits of eliminating your Internet Troll.
It is rather amusing that you posted AC.
Freedom Is Universal
Linux-Universe
Sooo . . . I should be allowed to ask about anything as long as I don't ask whether I should be allowed to ask? Phzzt . . . whoops, hold on a sec, my hippocampus is overheating.
Seriously though. I think what you're trying to say is that people should never be punished for asking questions. That I can agree with.
I think you're also trying to say that personal liberty is a value so fundamental that it would be foolish even to ask whether it might be a good idea to limit it in some cases. And that I do not agree with; there are plenty of cases where individual liberty is at odds with the interests of other individuals or those of society. As the old saw goes, "Your right to swing your arm ends at my nose." In the absence of any restraint on personal liberty, you have chaos; suppose I choose to exercise my personal liberty by murdering random strangers on the street? If you try to stop me, you are abrogating my liberty.
Establishing a good balance between personal liberty and the interests of others is an ongoing process, and questioning the premises on which the current balance is based is vital maintenance.
This Korean proposal is a perfect example. The government says "We should do this," and people say "Why?" and then you have a debate which hopefully ends up in a course of action acceptable to the interested parties. It's when that process is derailed that bad things start happening: when the government says "It's going to be this way" and pays no attention to the citizenry, the chances that the resulting legislation will be narrow, self-serving crap rise dramatically.
For that reason, we should always be allowed to question every facet of our political systems, without exception.
Please read "Once shunned, Chinese in Korea courted again". Even to this day, the Koreans have a racist attitude against non-Koreans. Most damning is the discriminatory laws that the Koreans have used against non-Koreans. The government of Korea gives preferential treatment to ethnic Koreans seeking Korean citizenship, and if you cannot prove that you are ethnically Korean, then you must obtain a personal guarantee from a high-ranking government official. Even more shocking, for more than 50 years, non-Koreans were prohibited from owning businesses. The Koreans "successfully" drove out most of the Chinese, reducing their number from 150,000 to 20,000.
Because an online conversation can be dug up later by someone with a grudge against you, any government (not just your government) that takes an interest in you, any employer or prospective employer, and used in a different context to make you look bad. Look for instance at what happens to politicians who "misspeak". It dogs them forever -- who can recall Dan Quayle and not think of "potatoe", or Al Gore "Inventor of the Internet"?
I had a little flame war on a local BBS a few months ago. Then recently a new guy took offence at something I wrote, and he dug up the old flames and republished them. Imagine that in real life. For the rest of your life.