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Online pornography crackdown begins in Korea
By Moon Gwang-lip
March 28, 2005
The prosecution has launched a massive crackdown on Web search engines for
posting obscene video content on their Web sites.
The Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office said yesterday they indicted
without detention three managers of three leading portal sites for their online
services of lewd content.
Twenty other operators of adult-only Internet sites were also indicted on
charges of posting video files revealing sexual intercourse on their Websites.
It also requested a court impose 7 million won to 10 million won
($7,000-$10,000) on operators of three other Web portals and 12 other online
pornography sites.
The office also asked other district prosecutors to investigate 50 adult Web
sites operating out of provincial areas.
The prosecution plans to conduct an additional investigation on 100 people,
including employees of local mobile operators, on suspicion of distributing sex
videos or photographs via the Internet and cell phones.
"We don't expect the crackdown on online sex content will lead to their
annihilation. But we are doing this to prevent more people, especially
teenagers, from getting a distorted view of sex through the influence of the
obscene content,'' a prosecutor said.
According to the prosecution, the indicted sex content providers earned up to
150 million won ($150,000) a month from membership fees of their Websites.
The membership is given to adults in those Websites, but most of them
purposefully leave loopholes in their adult confirmation process to allow
visitors to their Web site under 18 to peek into the content with fake
identification.
The law-enforcement agency says the content was vulgar enough to cause shame to
viewers, even though the genitals of actors and actresses were not seen.
But added most of them were found to have passed the review of the Korea Media
Rating Board, the agency in charge of screening all video content in the
nation.
For this, the prosecution plans to suggest the relevant ministries and
government agencies beef up its supervision of online services.
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