The veteran Korean film star could barely hold back the tears. At 70 years of age, Twist Kim hardly knows how to use the Internet, yet he saw not only his reputation but also his family life and occupation destroyed by a score of pornographic sites that have stolen his name. Other victims of what has come to be known as cyber terror had similar tales to tell at a forum organized by a civic organization calling itself the Gathering to Nourish a Mature Society.

Kim was branded a porn peddler, his granddaughter bullied at school. "Your grandfather lives by selling naked women," schoolmates told the child. "When somebody called us late at the night and harangued us, 'Is money that sweet?' my wife and I hugged each other and wept," Kim said.

Following insomnia and stress, he suffered chronic facial tics and the couple had to seek help from a psychologist. With TV and advertising offers drying up, he said, he attempted suicide. Kim’s complaints to the authorities were all turned down on grounds that “there is nothing we can do.”

Finding that there is no redress for online slander and abuse is no longer a rare experience. Anyone can be put on trial by Internet at any time and see their reputation sentenced to death. On the day the forum was held, the newspapers carried a story that after the suicide of a high school girl who was falsely accused of being a thief, Netizens posted pictures of her accusers online to subject them to “virtual beatings."

Most cyber terror victims have no alternative but to put up with the abuse. In extreme cases, victims lose their jobs and social life and attempt suicide. Cyber violence has long crossed the danger level, to the point where some are calling for the use of only real names online, a measure that could threaten many of the Internet’s benefits.

Judicial authorities must ensure that the victims of cyber terror have some sort of redress, instead of resorting to the excuse that the law is ambiguous. The fundamental solution depends on the good sense of Internet users. Schools, homes and society at large must teach and practice online ethics.