Recently I have read the case of little Megan who has committed suicide over a fake virtual boy friend created by some peers. Apart from the human tragedy behind the story what struck are two facts. Firstly the careless abuse of MySpace by peers, who considered the whole thing being a joke. Secondly the fact that often laws do not seem to be ready for the challenges of digital society. In Megan’s case e.g. no law has been violated because no such law exists.
Since Korean society is more “wired” than any other in the world, we encounter similar problems or have encountered them even earlier. At this Korean government and society try to be proactive as possible in facing the challenges of digital society. One example, which is also applicable to the case above, is the anonymity of the internet in social networking sites and forums, which has been a serious problem in Koreain the past. Government addressed this issue by introducing an obligation to verify your internet egos with your real ID. This is to prevent abuse because people are aware of the fact that they are not anonymous anymore (in the light of privacy security this may not be the best solution though). However punishing is one thing but creating a feeling of unethical behavior is a completely different one and in Megan’s case both had been missing. Concerning the latter a good example is a media campaign which had been launched in order to sensitize people that cyber bullying is unethical behavior and can have serious consequences. Below you may find an ad out of this campaign, the spoken text is something like: “Destroying one’s soul is terror which is crueler than terror”.
So overall Korea is not only a place for business opportunities but it is also worth having a look at if you are searching for examples how policy can tackle the challenges of digital society.
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