On May 24th, the Korean Progressive Network (Jinbonet), the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions(KCTU), the Electricity Workers Union, and the Korean Federation of Transportation, Public, & Social Service Workers’ Union prosecuted the power companies because the felt that the companies’ conduct constituted an unfair action which the labor law bans.
Because the rank-and-file was scattered, it was very important to communicate with each other and headquarters. There were websites, cell phones, and many video activists to report their struggle.
The MIC will thoroughly search for violent and obscene contents in major portal sites along with any kind of unsound information roaming in cyber space and work on settling the rating system.
Searching for a lost child by using the fingerprints is gaining popularity for its cutting edge idea, reported The Naeway Economic Daily on February 15.
Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) have built database for identifying faces and fingerprints to rear up information security industry.
According to the Electronic Times on March 4th, the US government is now trying to legalize a passport that has biological information to prevent counterfeit passport after the 9-11 terrorist attack, and Korea is also planing to drive such project.
The proposed revision of the copyright law, which is now being discussed in the National Assembly, seriously violates the Constitution by using copyright to protect investments rather than the public good. Moreover, it also aggravates the already precarious situation of “digital libraries” by prohibiting access from outside the library. We strongly insist that the revision should not be passed because it will tremendously damage the public interest.
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.
In June last year, APC received a request from JinboNet, our partner network in Korea, for support and solidarity for a 72 hour “website strike” in protest against the Korean government’s introduction, from July 1st, of a compulsory filtering system for “PC Bangs” (Cybercafes), schools and public libraries. The system blocked access to websites that the Korean government considers to be “harmful to minors.” Websites selected for blocking included mainstream lesbian and gay websites.
On Feb. 5th, nineteen civic, social and human rights organizations in South Korea hold a press conference in front of the U.S. embassy protesting against the US-VISIT and criticized that it was an apparent violation of human right.
