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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/

 
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  • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday May 20 2015, @06:45PM

    by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 20 2015, @06:45PM (#185643) Journal

    FWIW, I'd guess the GP post came from Britain, as the US doesn't have actual princesses. (OTOH, I don't follow the British royal family, so perhaps they don't have an expectant princess.)

    As an amusing side, wasn't there an article about an expectant Barbie princess doll? (I don't remember, though, whether it was an actual doll, or a denial that such a thing could be considered.)

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 20 2015, @08:47PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday May 20 2015, @08:47PM (#185704)

    Actually based on other posts he has made I'd guess VLM was from the US.

    While it is true you don't have princesses of your own it seems many Americans take an interest in the British royal family. Personally, as a Brit I couldn't care less about them.