Korean Court Upholds Real Name Identification System for Internet During Election Periods

This is a tough issue to address because I like the openness the Internet provides for people to share ideas, but with all the false information passed on the Internet to influence politics in South Korea I can understand why many in Korea think this law is needed.  Anyone in Korea in 2008 can remember how crazy the madcow crisis became based off of Internet speculation and false news reports:

The Constitutional Court ruled constitutional Thursday a law that mandates a user-identification system on news outlets during an election period, citing the fairness of the election.

While the online real-name verification legislation was abolished in 2012, the current Public Official Election Act requires Internet news sites, including news aggregators, to provide the system for users to input and verify their identities when posting articles either supporting or countering a candidate during 30 days of election campaigning.

The court said in a 5-4 vote that considering the public confidence and awareness of the Web sites, information distortion could happen instantly through the spread of rumors or propaganda.

As it does not take much time to go through the verification process and it guarantees the protection of users’ personal information, the clause does not infringe upon the freedom of speech nor the right to self-determination, the court said.  [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.