Open Net welcomes MP Choi’s Bill Abolishing 3 Strikes

Data Rights before Copy Rights!

On January 18, 2012, known as the “American Censorship Day,” thousands of websites including Wikipedia and Google went on a “strike.” This online strike was to show their protest against the “Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)” and the “PROTECT IP Act (PIPA),” which allowed the U.S. Department of Justice to block foreign websites providing infringing contents. The bills were discarded in the end.

In Korea, we have much more draconian copyright protection – three strikes rule and mandatory Internet filtering. Under the three strikes rule, the administrative authority may suspend an account of a user or a bulletin board that received more than three warnings. This controversial rule has never gained its way into any international conventions, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression had expressed his concerns about the system. On top of that, Korea is the only country in the world to impose filtering obligation on Internet service providers (ISPs). In several decisions, the Court of Justice of European Union (ECJ) ruled that such filtering system infringes the privacy of users and the freedom to conduct business.

Open Net welcomes the bill recently proposed by MP CHOI Jae Cheon, aiming at abolishing the three strikes rule and mandatory filtering. Copyright should not be the means of censorship and surveillance. Freedom of expression and privacy of users always come first.

2013.2.27 Open Net Holds with MPs Lee Jong-Kul and Choi Jae-Cheon a Seminar “Diversification of Online Payment Security Technologies”.

The public demand in security and stability of online transactions have been increasing as security breaches frequently break out while the number of online transactions on mobile networks is growing rapidly. Experts from both the public and the private sectors in the fields of electronic financial transactions and online security are invited: they will discuss what security measures are required and how the current identification system can be improved, and will explore the possibility of diversification of security technologies.

To participate, please submit your application online here (http://www.oppennet.or.kr).

Read Korea original here.