Groundless rumors in cyberspace

“The Future of Reputation,” authored by Professor Dan Solove of George Washington University in 2007, starts with the story of so-called "dog-poop girl" in a subway train in Korea in 2005. He said, “Not picking up your dog’s poop is bad behavior in most people’s books, but was the reaction to her transgression appropriate?” He warned of the risk of an online witch hunt that unveils a girl`s photos, name, school and relatives as well as public criticism of the girl.

Group lynching on the Internet can turn even more destructive if combined with groundless rumors. Rumors used to be spread by word of mouth but are now spread worldwide through social networking sites such as Twitter, online blogs and Facebook and the Web in one day. If somebody leaks information, then an influential person spreads it and the “Google generation” starts digging it. The Internet does not protect even "the right to be forgotten." Correcting wrong information is difficult as well. Celebrities and high-ranking officials who value their reputations are forced to make extreme decisions.

Lee Cheol-gyu, former commissioner of the Gyeonggi Provincial Police Agency, filed a suit against 55 Twitter users for spreading false rumors and defamation. The twitters spread a list of former and incumbent high-ranking officials who allegedly accepted prostitutes offered by a construction CEO. “I even thought about suicide because of the false rumors,” Lee said. “If I don’t take any action, groundless rumors will keep killing people.” Former National Police Agency Commissioner General Huh Joon-young also tweeted, “Had I received sexual entertainment, I would`ve killed myself.”

Groundless rumors tend to spread fast if things are important and the situation is unclear. That is why rumors spread after South Korea-U.S. negotiations on beef imports and the attacks on the Cheonan and Yeonpyeong Island. Those with malicious intent stimulate irrational mobs through rumors. The killing of ethnic Koreans in Japan in the Kanto earthquake in 1923 started with a rumor that Koreans attacked Japanese and put poison in wells. Experts say online rumors are hard to punish legally. The time has come to root out this bad practice by even changing the law. Freedoms of expression and information on the Web should be guaranteed but creating innocent victims cannot be tolerated.

Editorial Writer Park Yong (parky@donga.com)