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The U.S. and the French governments are cracking down on the dissemination of child pornography, holding Internet service providers responsible for illegal information and pornography distributed across the net. Such rigorous measures are likely to have serious implications for the Korean telecom industry, as KT and Hanaro Telecom would have to bear inclusive responsibility for illegal information roving online.
New York state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday that the three major U.S. Internet service providers -- Time Warner Cable, Sprint, and Verizon -- have agreed to block access to websites that contain child pornography. It appears a voluntary move by the three companies at the superficial level, but considering that Cuomo has been investigating whether these companies have connived at the distribution of child pornography, it can be said that the Internet service providers gave in to police determination to crack down on the illegal material.
The French government has begun efforts to completely contain harmful information online, expanding the range of detrimental information to include not only child pornography but also material that promotes terrorism, racism and scams. French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said Tuesday that from September the government will draw up a blacklist of websites containing malicious information based on reports from the Internet users. Telecom firms will be required to immediately block access to blacklisted sites. Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom have similar laws.
Korean telecom companies have insisted that they are not responsible for Internet content because they merely provide space in the cyber world. But with governments of advanced countries beginning to hold Internet providers to account, it will be interesting to observe how things will unfold in Korea in the future.
"It's difficult to regulate antisocial information on the Internet, and when things get out of hand, government intervention might be necessary like what they are doing in France and the U.S.," said Prof. Jong Sang-jo of Seoul National University's College of Law.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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