Intellectual Property Law

Blogger Critical of South Korea Faces 18 Months in Prison

By Ryan Singel, Kevin Poulsen, Sarah Lai Stirland, Kim Zetter, and David Kravets

South Korea's democracy seems to be deteriorating by the day ? this time with the proposed 18-month incarceration of a blogger critical of the South's economic policy.

The 31-year-old blogger's crime: falsely reporting that South Korea had barred banks from purchasing U.S. currency. The authorities said the blogger, Park Dae-sung, will find out his sentence on April 20 for posting the inaccurate story that prosecutors said undermined the county's credibility, The Associated Press reports.

The move against the blogger, known as "Minerva" in the online world, came a week after the country became the first democratic nation to adopt a "three strikes" law targeting online copyright scofflaws. Repeat online copyright offenders face having their internet access cut off.

Hollywood studios and Western record labels are pushing countries and internet service providers to adopt three-strike laws.

Park hit the big time last year when he predicted the collapse of Lehman Bros.

See Also:

• AT&T, Comcast Deny RIAA '3 Strikes' Participation
• French Reject '3 Strikes' Piracy Measure
• Top Internet Providers Cool to RIAA 3-Strikes Plan
• ISP Agrees to Ban Copyright Scofflaws
• Russia Charges Blogger for Inciting Police Hatred
• A-list Blogger Jason Calacanis Morphs into the Department of ...
• RIAA Decries Attorney-Blogger as 'Vexatious' Litigator
• The Shield Law: Truth or Fear Mongering?
• Hacking Like it's 1999
• Kevin Mitnick Tells All in Upcoming Book ? Promises No Whining ...

Full post as published by Threat Level on April 13, 2009 (boomark / email).