South Korea’s Constitutional Court struck down the current law that requires Internet users to use their real name online, saying that it violates free speech.
“The freedom of speech can be regulated only when (the Internet real-name system) is clearly beneficial to the public. Despite the enforcement (of the real-name system), however, there has not been a significant decrease in illegal postings online,” the court said, reported the Yonhap News Agency.
In 2007, officials forced people to use their real names to curb anonymous slander of public figures and cyber-bullying by not allowing people to hide behind fake names. The current law requires Web sites with more than 100,000 visits per day to verify users’ identity by checking their resident registration number.
The court decided that the benefits of the law do not outweigh its disadvantages, including the fact that it
hinders free speech, restrains foreigners without a resident registration number, and increases the security risk to personal and sensitive information.
Kim Kee-chang, a law professor with Korea University in Seoul, told The Wall Street Journal that officials in South Korea and around the world will be discouraged from trying to regulate free speech on the Internet after the ruling.
“South Korea has been a very unhappy example of a technologically avant-garde country experimenting with an idea that has proved to be untenable,” Kim said. “I hope this sends a good message to other countries where they are playing with this idea.”
