If Portals Are Negligent About Pornography, They Could Face Suspension

Legal punishment for managers who run portal sites and are negligent of ‘bad’ material posted on their sites will be strengthened.

The Ministry of Information and Communication announced on March 26 that it has prepared a measure to monitor obscene Internet postings. Owners of portals allowing postings of pornography will be charged with aiding and abetting. Coupled with this measure, the ministry, in cooperation with investigation authorities and portals, will also build a monitoring system.

The ministry explained, “The new measure is a reflection of public opinion that though the Internet portal sites including Naver and Yahoo have been growing fast, their corporate social responsibility has not been sufficient enough.”

According to the measure, owners who are negligent about monitoring postings on the web will face investigations from a communications committee, and the information and communications minister can actively exercise his power to correct illegal acts. If portals do not perform appropriately, they could face punishments like suspension.

Seo Byeong-jo who is the chief of information protection and planning, said, “If a person posts or distributes obscene images on the web, he or she can be given a one-year term in jail or fined less than 10 million won. Portal owners could face the same punishments for aiding and abetting, and if the owner is judged to be infringing on the rights of users, the portal can face suspension.”

The measure will also provide a 24-hour “illegal information reporting center” within the information and communication ethics committee.

It plans to set up a hotline and if illegal information is filed or reported, it will immediately report that to related companies and prevent the distribution of the bad material on web at an early stage.

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