Spam Mail Report Center Opens

The government opened ‘Illegal Spam Mail Report Center’ on July 2. The center is operated by Korea Information Security Agency (KISA) and provides netizens with a special and speedy service of protecting them from spam mail-related damages, receiving reports and requests for counsel.

It will take over the task of receiving reports on spam mails, which was managed by Personal Information Protection Center (www.cyberprivacy.or.kr) and offer a service of providing the general public with information on how to block and prevent spam mail.

“As the number of people suffering from a spam attack soars, the government has opened the center,” said Kim Dae-hee, a section chief in charge of information use protection at Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC).

According to the ministry, the number of spam mail-related reports and counsel cases, which were received by the center, was just 325 in 2000 and 2,827 last year. But it jumped to 11,621 as of May.

MIC is going to develop and distribute SW programs preventing unauthorized extraction of email addresses in the second half of this year and strictly punish those who send illegal spam mails.

The public can make a spam mail report and request counsels through the Internet and telephone (Call 1336).

Tae-Han Kim freewill@donga.com