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Why Internet Explorer Still Dominates South Korea.
New submitter bmurray7 writes "You might think that the country that has the fastest average home internet speeds would be a first adapter of modern browsers. Instead, as the Washington Post reports, a payment processing security standard forces most South Koreans to rely upon Internet Explorer for online shopping. Since the standard uses a unique encryption algorithm, an ActiveX control is required to complete online purchases. As a result, many internet users are in the habit of approving all AtivceX control prompts, potentially exposing them to malware."
AtivceX? Go, Timmay! You're a kickass editor!
From TFA:
Holy crap!
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Banks here make you login to your online account by using a card reader with your ATM card. And of course, that requires an ActiveX control. The Cathay Bank site itself looks like it hasn't changed design since 1996.
I know too much about this. I'm a Korea-phile, so last year I applied to a graduate school in South Korea and they required me to download like 2 or so add-ons to IE to even complete the online application.
Even Microsoft is looking at SK and saying: "WTF? We don't even use ActiveX anymore."
It's like a microcosm of what might have happened worldwide had ActiveX been as popular as they'd wanted to be.
Well, according to the Wikipedia article linked in the summary, it is is supported in NSS, and hence in Firefox (since version 3.5.4).
As for whether or not there is something else required as well as the cipher itself, dunno.
As someone who did IT work in South Korea this year for couple of weeks, I never felt so defeated trying to upgrade 15 computers from XP to Windows 7. We basically had to give everyone admin rights just for them to do their job. Bank sites that had 11 (!) ActiveX plugins with 3-factor security (password, token, plus USB key with a cert) just for them to log in - and they routinely "update" their controls, which of course, require Admin rights.
The branch manager didn't understand at first why we were having so much difficulty. I had to explain to him that if we adhered by our security standards, we'd have to close the branch because there wasn't a single operation they did which would otherwise be allowed.
You're wrong about Korean culture...
Well, partially wrong. They built their IT infrastructure based on the *best* available at the time: Microsoft
Blame Microsoft for making shitty products that lock-in users (and whole countries) to an inefficient half-assed software system.
caveat emptor? sure...but at some point you have to acknowledge that they culpability can't rest only on the consumer....M$ parasitic system design was/is truly evil
If you want to fault Korean culture, fault them for being too trusting of the USA in general....poor people actually take what we say at face value.
I lived there for 1 year...I know the ass-backwards way they sometimes adapt new technology...but this isn't that...the aren't inherently inefficient as a culture...they showed us what happens when a country actually does what M$ suggests...
Sort of like a 'Super Size Me' kind of project only with IT infrastructure for a whole country not fast food
Thank you Dave Raggett
The summary is slightly miss-leading. There isn't 1 standard for ActiveX control, every single goddamn site uses their one ActiveX or Java applet, and you have to install it. I have never seen a more backwards methodology than what Korea has for online purchasing.
The strange thing is, if you use a phone, things are much simpler (generally there is an app). In addition, because of Naver's dominance in the country, almost all sites are integrated with it, and at least offer ways of finding information through it (but not purchasing).