Portals to Be Punished for Illegal Information

The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) is considering drafting a bill to expand the social responsibility of Web portals, including the adoption of a provision to impose penalty on portal sites that cause damage to companies by refusing to delete or block access to illegal information even after receiving requests from the ones experiencing damage.

Such a move is the result of the latest criticism that while major newspapers and their advertisers are experiencing damage caused by threatening Web postings, the relevant portals tend to leave the illegal information exposed for more than a month and take no responsibility despite their gains from the advertisements.

A commission official said Sunday, “It can be seen as a hole in the legislation that there is no penalty provision dealing with a Web portal that does not take any actions on illegal posts even after having recognition. We are working on a way to counteract such an absence.”

The official also said that the Korea Communications Commission is considering making changes to expand the application of limited real-name system so as to add weight to the responsibility of individuals on the Internet and to have Web portals disclose how it decides the order and size of the news pages when providing the news service.

According to the commission and the industry, Daum Communications was requested by two companies to delete illegal information in early June but did not accept the request, exposing the posts in question for another month.

In addition, although the Dong-A Ilbo requested June 13 that some posts be deleted, Daum failed to show swift responses, taking temporary measures on part of the posts as late as June 20 only after receiving a number of official letters.

Current Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection stipulates that a Web portal should immediately delete or limit access to certain information when the ones experiencing damage request that the information infringing their rights be deleted.

nex@donga.com