Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by cmn32480 on Wednesday May 20 2015, @12:34PM   Printer-friendly
from the your-tinfoil-hat-won't-save-you-this-time dept.

A law requiring the mass installation of spyware on teenagers' smartphones suggests that the frightening level of population control exercised by its neighbours in "Best Korea" has rubbed off on the Republic's administrators in Seoul.

The Republic of South Korea's Communications Commission, a media regulator modeled after the United States' FCC, now requires telecom companies and parents to ensure a monitoring app is installed whenever anyone under the age of 19 receives a new smartphone.

The measure will only slowly come into force over the next few years as it doesn't require old smartphones be updated, although AP reports that most schools in South Korea sent out letters to parents encouraging them to install the software anyway.

One particular monitoring app called Smart Sheriff was funded and developed by the South Korean government with the declared intent of blocking children's access to pornography.

The app, however, effectively allows parents "to monitor how long their kids use their smartphones, how many times they use apps and which websites they visit.

Some send a child's location data to parents and issue an alert when a child searches keywords such as 'suicide', 'pregnancy' and 'bully' or receives messages with those words", reports AP.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/05/19/korean_law_mandates_spyware_installed_on_teenagers_smartphones_and_it_aint_north_korean/

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday May 20 2015, @05:14PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday May 20 2015, @05:14PM (#185599)

    The problem with the ferry example is how a panic movement could hinder the ability of he crew to save the ship, and cost more lives. Sure, in retrospect, the captain was as wrong as wrong can be. But if you're an uninformed teenager in a scary situation, the words of the experienced people have to bear some weight.

    Harry Potter is cute fantasy, but disobeying in the face of mortal danger is actually more likely to get someone killed. This counter-example has to be weighed against thousands of situations where "the captain said do this, don't ask why" actually saves lives.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by CirclesInSand on Wednesday May 20 2015, @08:47PM

    by CirclesInSand (2899) on Wednesday May 20 2015, @08:47PM (#185707)

    I agree with you that more often than not "captain said to do this, don't ask why" is a good policy. Or doctor, or medic, or your lawyer.

    But when you are in a room, in a tipped over boat, with water rising in it, and only staying because the captain said to, that's extreme. Peer enforcement plus authoritarian culture was a bad recipe.