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solidarity with Korean activists fighting online censorship.
Last year, the Korean
Ministry of Information & Communication (MIC) of
the Kim Dae-jung government tried to pass the Korean
Communication Decency Act. The Act included a very dangerous
Internet Content Rating System provision. So, many Korean
progressive groups fought against the legislation and
finally, before being passed, the clauses related to
the Content Rating System were deleted from the Act.
But, this year, the MIC snuck new provisions
relating to a Content Rating System into the enforcement
ordinance of the Act and announced that it would be
carried out from July 1st. In addition to a content
rating system provision, this enforcement ordinance
also has very strict clause making online demonstrations
illegal. For example, writing protest messages on internet
bulletin boards, sending many protest messages to one
server (like the MIC server), and Virtual sit-ins (known
as, "DOS" - Denial of Service) etc. So, after
July 1st, most online demonstrations will be illegal.
Korean Progressive groups, including the "Collaboration
Action Group Against Information and Communication Censorship"
(CAG) have organized events against the Act over the
last two months, such as protest performances, one person
demonstrations in front of the MIC, Press Conferences,
and on/off-line debating conferences etc. However, the
government has ignored these people's voices.
We strongly encourage international progressive groups,
including NGOs (Non-government Organizations), CSGs
(Civil Society Groups) etc. to join our international
solidarity struggle. We attach our struggle newsletters.
Before July 1st, hundreds of Korean progressive
groups are preparing actions, such as the following: |
