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The Democratic Party, which is opposed to the government¡¯s idea of requiring people to verify their identities when posting comments online, has reportedly been requiring visitors to its homepage to do exactly that for the past five years.
When accessing the free bulletin board of the Democratic Party¡¯s homepage, visitors are shown a message saying those who fail to verify their identities cannot post comments. The main opposition party explains on its website that the measure is ¡°unavoidable¡± and acts to strengthen a sense of responsibility among those posting messages.
Even a forum on the website for party members requires user verification in order to post messages. In the name of protecting freedom of expression, the Democratic Party has been calling on Koreans to allow cyber anonymity, while protecting itself against random online attacks by unnamed individuals on its own homepage.
The Democratic Party began implementing the Internet real-name system back when it was the Uri Party. A pro-Roh Moo-hyun faction within the former Democratic Party was forcefully splintering the group to create the breakaway Uri Party. That move angered opponents within the Democratic Party, prompting them to post messages slandering and threatening the party¡¯s leadership.
In 2005, then-prime minister Lee Hae-chan held a ministerial meeting and decided to adopt the Internet real-name system -- and the Uri Party backed this policy when it was the ruling political camp. That is how the present enforcement decree for the Information and Communication Law came into effect. It requires Internet portal sites with at least 300,000 daily visitors to verify the identities of those posting messages. The Democratic Party¡¯s homepage is not even subject to the rule, but applies it in order to prevent negative comments being posted on its website.
But Democratic Party members of the National Assembly Culture, Sports, Tourism, Broadcasting and Communications Committee debating the Internet real-name system issued a statement accusing the government of engaging in a ¡°politically-motivated¡± attempt to clamp down on freedom of online expression. They said the Lee Myung-bak administration was ¡°outdated¡± and ¡°authoritarian.¡±
Democratic Party lawmakers are guilty of applying double standards. If the party wants to oppose the real-name system, it should tell visitors to its homepage that they many write anything they wish. If the Democratic Party does not want to do this, then it should encourage implementation of the Internet real-name system for the general public.
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