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July 23, 2009
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| You might want to think twice about downloading a free copy of “The Wrestler” or an old episode of “Heroes” online tonight. It might end up costing you a lot in the end. Korean Internet portals are on high alert for illegal downloads of music, movies and other content as the government’s new regulations involving online copyright protection go into effect today. In an effort to prevent the illegal distribution of copyrighted content online, the regulation will suspend Korean Web sites for up to six months or assess fines of up to 10 million won ($7,990) if they ignore three or more government warnings about providing copyrighted material. Users caught downloading illegal material could face fines. NHN - which operates Korea’s biggest portal, Naver - has been running a “copyright campaign” page to alert users to the new regulation and inform them about how to avoid unintentionally uploading content illegally. The information, which can be accessed through Naver’s home page, explains in detail how to identify the legal types of content with creative commons licenses. It also provides examples of the types of content that have copyright restrictions. Daum, another leading portal, as well as SK Communications’ Nate and Cyworld pages also have similar information on the new regulation. Most of the campaigns started last week, which one observer claims was too late in the process. “Starting such campaigns just a week away from the start of the regulation is too passive on the part of local portals,” an official close to the Internet industry who declined to be named argued. However, these steps are seen as improvements from just a couple months ago, when Naver and Daum were indicted for ignoring copyright violations for music uploads. By Cho Jae-eun [jainnie@joongang.co.kr] |
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