FTAs

The FTA with the U.S. that will  come in effect the 15th of March, six years after negotiations started, is still debated in South Korea. The country has been split over the FTA issue — companies, large and small, are backing the deal, while farmers, small shopkeepers and those in the services sector are deadly set against the pact

 

Mobile voting

Campaigners in the main opposition Democratic United Party have allegedly hired local residents or minor part-timers to register more voters favoring their would-be candidates for the April general elections.

 

Net Neutrality

In my previous news review for Korea I mentioned that KT Corp had decided to limit access to some Internet enabled TV applications in their network. Four days later it restored access after a mediated settlement with Samsung that they should work together for the development of the domestic information and communications technology industry and jointly set up a committee handling smart TVs. Exactly what this will lead to still remains to be seen. Meanwhile the internet provider KT Corp stepping up efforts to expand business areas other than telecom services through a joint venture with Japanese SoftBank to start up Ustream Korea. The trend that internet service providers moves into also provide content may in the near future be a real threat to net neutrality.

 

Privacy

An Internet rights group has urged Google to drop its plan to data mine user information. In a statement, the Korean Council on the Protection of Personal Information (KCPPI) said that Google’s scheme violates privacy and it should not be implemented on March 1 as scheduled.

 

Patent war

Samsung seem to be on the defensive in their current patent conflict with Apple. Brash words have been replaced by more humble wording which might show that Samsung is worried about loosing a crucial court ruling in German court the 2nd of March. An often overlooked detail is that while the companies are at each others throats regarding patents Apple is at the same time a critical customer of Samsung, buying processors, LCDs and NAND flash memory chips.

 

Freedom of Speech

Popular actress Song Hye-kyo filed a complaint with the prosecution against 41 netizens who spread false rumors about her online.  Song’s agency said the decision was inevitable because the netizens had severely and continuously damaged Song’s reputation. The agency, however, made it clear that the move was not to be seen as a disapproval of freedom of expression online.

 

Online activism

Hundreds of thousands of Internet users around the world have flocked to a website to sign an online petition to help North Korean defectors who are to be repatriated after being caught and held in China. More than 110,000 web users from more than 100 countries has joined the SaveMyFriend campaign (www.savemyfriend.org) launched by several Koreans in their 20s.