Thursday, July 01, 2004
What the...............?!
It is exactly as I had suspected... complete and utter ignorance is at the bottom of the Korean internet blocking. I just sent a hell fire and brimstone email to the Korean Ministry for mind control which should see me tracked down and executed within days. Read on...
Link to the article beneath
Beh**ding V*deo Fallout Casts Wide Net
MIC orders large swaths of Internet domains blocked to 'protect public morals'
A preemptive ban by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) on whole domains hosting sites that contain or actively seek out the K S-I beh**ding v*deo has entered its second week, amid protests of censorship from bloggers and concerned citizens.
Thousands of netizens are being denied access to sites including blogspot.com, blogger.com, blogs.com and typepad.com, among others. Many domestic and foreign users have protested, saying they have no connection with the distribution of the v*deo and are being punished for acts of a voyeuristic few [read: freaks].
Affected netizens argue that the Korean government is undermining its long touted superior Internet culture and the nation's image as a bastion of freedom of speech compared to the restrictive policies of neighboring China.
An MIC official said the blanket ban would be in place "until things stabilize." The ministry's English Web site, however, makes no mention of the embargo.
The ministry ordered domestic Internet providers including Hanaro Telecom, KT and Thrunet to block access to sites hosting or soliciting the v*deo.
The v*deo of K S-I's beh**ding first came to light last week just hours after Seoul confirmed his body had been found some 35km outside of Baghdad. Koreans who had waited anxiously over the course of three days for word of his safe release were devastated.
The macabre public nature of a downloadable v*deo of the Korean translator and missionary's m*rder prompted an internal MIC ethics committee to meet in an emergency session. It ordered the ban in order to "protect" Korean citizens from further "anguish."
Korea began a 24-hour monitoring of all traffic and blocking access to tens of overseas sites that host the v*deo. Some bloggers in Korea complain that their sites are being blocked for simply commenting on the incident and offending others, who in turn reported them to the Korean authorities.
Much of the information on the dissemination of the v*deo, which is being compiled into a site blacklist, is being forwarded by concerned Korean netizens, who alert www.internet119.or.kr, formerly the Cyber Harmful Information Report Center.
The ministry said it is also looking into targeting the search engines of portal sites - making it impossible to utilize search terms related to the v*deo.
More than a dozen Koreans have been arrested by the cyber crime division of the National Police Agency for distributing the v*deo...
Outrage from the blogging community here was vociferous, with blog headlines ranging from "Mr. Roh, tear down this wall!" to "Major censorship in South Korea." The tight-knit community maintains that it is not interested in viewing or transmitting the video.
Blogger Jeff Harrison compared the "Korean cyber wall" to the 1961 Berlin Wall.
"(It's) to keep the Koreans isolated from the alleged corrupting influences of freedom, the truth about what happened to K S-I, the beh**ding v*deo, and what the rest of the world is saying about it," he told OhmyNews in an email.
He pointed out that by blocking entire domains, the government is fuelling curiosity in the v*deo, enticing people who otherwise would not seek it out.
"The government is sending a very strong message that they do not trust the Korean people to think and behave rationally and reasonably," Harrison warned. "They have stopped thousands of people from sharing their ideas with Koreans. Korean citizens should not stand for this. Koreans should be outraged."
On Sunday, an OhmyNews reader going by the handle "Sugar Shin," wrote:
"The government is now taking action, cause they think a majority of the Korean populace would agree with the sites blocking. And I think most South Koreans don't see the danger of future governmental censorship stunts. ... The government tries to soothe the rightfully angry soul of many Koreans about the disgusting murder of Mr. K S-I, but (politicians, with their) background struggle for more democracy and freedom of speech in the times of press-censored dictatorships should have shown more democratic maturity and liberal wisdom in dealing with the beh**ding v*deo matter."
The government has been severely criticized for not acting on a telephone call from the Associated Press pointing out a v*deo of a detained Korean called K S-I, which it received in early June.
Link to the article beneath
Beh**ding V*deo Fallout Casts Wide Net
MIC orders large swaths of Internet domains blocked to 'protect public morals'
A preemptive ban by the Ministry of Information and Communication (MIC) on whole domains hosting sites that contain or actively seek out the K S-I beh**ding v*deo has entered its second week, amid protests of censorship from bloggers and concerned citizens.
Thousands of netizens are being denied access to sites including blogspot.com, blogger.com, blogs.com and typepad.com, among others. Many domestic and foreign users have protested, saying they have no connection with the distribution of the v*deo and are being punished for acts of a voyeuristic few [read: freaks].
Affected netizens argue that the Korean government is undermining its long touted superior Internet culture and the nation's image as a bastion of freedom of speech compared to the restrictive policies of neighboring China.
An MIC official said the blanket ban would be in place "until things stabilize." The ministry's English Web site, however, makes no mention of the embargo.
The ministry ordered domestic Internet providers including Hanaro Telecom, KT and Thrunet to block access to sites hosting or soliciting the v*deo.
The v*deo of K S-I's beh**ding first came to light last week just hours after Seoul confirmed his body had been found some 35km outside of Baghdad. Koreans who had waited anxiously over the course of three days for word of his safe release were devastated.
The macabre public nature of a downloadable v*deo of the Korean translator and missionary's m*rder prompted an internal MIC ethics committee to meet in an emergency session. It ordered the ban in order to "protect" Korean citizens from further "anguish."
Korea began a 24-hour monitoring of all traffic and blocking access to tens of overseas sites that host the v*deo. Some bloggers in Korea complain that their sites are being blocked for simply commenting on the incident and offending others, who in turn reported them to the Korean authorities.
Much of the information on the dissemination of the v*deo, which is being compiled into a site blacklist, is being forwarded by concerned Korean netizens, who alert www.internet119.or.kr, formerly the Cyber Harmful Information Report Center.
The ministry said it is also looking into targeting the search engines of portal sites - making it impossible to utilize search terms related to the v*deo.
More than a dozen Koreans have been arrested by the cyber crime division of the National Police Agency for distributing the v*deo...
Outrage from the blogging community here was vociferous, with blog headlines ranging from "Mr. Roh, tear down this wall!" to "Major censorship in South Korea." The tight-knit community maintains that it is not interested in viewing or transmitting the video.
Blogger Jeff Harrison compared the "Korean cyber wall" to the 1961 Berlin Wall.
"(It's) to keep the Koreans isolated from the alleged corrupting influences of freedom, the truth about what happened to K S-I, the beh**ding v*deo, and what the rest of the world is saying about it," he told OhmyNews in an email.
He pointed out that by blocking entire domains, the government is fuelling curiosity in the v*deo, enticing people who otherwise would not seek it out.
"The government is sending a very strong message that they do not trust the Korean people to think and behave rationally and reasonably," Harrison warned. "They have stopped thousands of people from sharing their ideas with Koreans. Korean citizens should not stand for this. Koreans should be outraged."
On Sunday, an OhmyNews reader going by the handle "Sugar Shin," wrote:
"The government is now taking action, cause they think a majority of the Korean populace would agree with the sites blocking. And I think most South Koreans don't see the danger of future governmental censorship stunts. ... The government tries to soothe the rightfully angry soul of many Koreans about the disgusting murder of Mr. K S-I, but (politicians, with their) background struggle for more democracy and freedom of speech in the times of press-censored dictatorships should have shown more democratic maturity and liberal wisdom in dealing with the beh**ding v*deo matter."
The government has been severely criticized for not acting on a telephone call from the Associated Press pointing out a v*deo of a detained Korean called K S-I, which it received in early June.
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