South Korea Implements New Copyright Law; ISPs Ban P2P Ads; File Sharers Get Summary Trials

from the ch-ch-ch-changes dept

Fri, Jul 24th 2009 4:46pm — Mike Masnick

Looks like a bunch of things are happening in South Korea concerning copyright law there, as I keep seeing new (seemingly unrelated) stories pop up having to do with changes in South Korea. We'd already discussed how South Korea had agreed to a three strikes plan a little while, and how other oddities in the new copyright law were leading Google to forbid uploading any music to blogs for fear of running afoul of an incredibly, broadly-worded law.

It appears that Google's not the only one. Basically any kind of copyright infringement can get you a "strike" -- meaning all kinds of the typical "unintentional infringement" that people do every day that are really harmless can now get you kicked offline. So, all sorts of social networking sites are basically warning their users not to do anything potentially infringing. No homemade videos with music in the background. No mentioning song lyrics. On top of this, South Korean search engines have agreed to stop accepting ads for any sort of P2P file sharing service -- even if it has perfectly legitimate uses.

About the only slightly reasonable thing we've heard is that South Korea is changing the rules for handling lawsuits against those accused of file sharing, basically shifting it from a full trial to something more akin to a small claims court, with the idea being that if someone is found guilty to give them a small fine, rather than the ridiculous numbers the industry usually requests. There was one interesting quote in explaining the reasoning why:

The police say targeting youngsters is unfair because the parents are usually unaware of the illegal activity, and then desperate to come up with the money, the kids resort to theft or other crime to come up with the settlement money demanded by copyright holders.

Nice work, recording industry: apparently you've been driving kids to real crime in your effort to stop file sharing. That said, now that the industry has a massively broad three strikes tool to use, it probably doesn't even need to take as many kids to court. It can just kick them offline.

The crazy thing about this, too, is that the music industry in South Korea has actually been doing a really good job adjusting to the changing market. A huge percentage of folks in South Korea have broadband connections (by which we mean real broadband connections, not what they call broadband in the US), and smart entrepreneurs like JY Park have adapted by changing the business model, recognizing that selling music directly no longer makes sense, but there are plenty of other business models that do. And by embracing that, he's been able to create some massive stars, and bring in a ton of money. So why do we need this drastic change in the law?

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Filed Under: copyright, south korea

20 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 24 Jul 2009 @ 5:04pm

Mike, please!

"Basically any kind of copyright infringement can get you a "strike" -- meaning all kinds of the typical "unintentional infringement" that people do every day that are really harmless can now get you kicked offline"

Using Torrent Freak as a "source" is and entirely bad idea on a story like this, because their scare factor on reporting is so high. This is anti-torrent, do you expect them to give a truly honest rendering of the facts?

Sort of like asking a Republican about Obama - you aren't going to get a straight answer.
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- Anonymous Coward, 24 Jul 2009 @ 5:15pm
  
  Re:
  Using Torrent Freak as a "source" is and entirely bad idea... blah blah blah
  
  OK, I'll bite. What source do you recommend for this story? Or would you just prefer that it not be mentioned at all?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 24 Jul 2009 @ 6:08pm
    
    Re: Re:
    I would say if torrent freak is the only source for the story, then perhaps the story isn't real, or at least not well explained. Take the Torrent Freak story, then go searching for material that supports or debunks it, and work from there.
    
    Torrent Freak is an involved party, so you have to assume their take is going to be strident and probably a massive over reaction.
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    - Oh My !, 24 Jul 2009 @ 6:44pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      and why should I take your word for it ... you are probably over reacting because you are an involved party.
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      - Anonymous Coward, 24 Jul 2009 @ 7:00pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re:
        I am not an involved party. I neither make music, nor sell it, nor do I run a torrent site. Sorry, fail.
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        Luci, 25 Jul 2009 @ 4:15am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        Which just means you are a disinterested party, and therefore going to err on the other side of caution. There are always two sides to a story, true enough, but your reaction is just as bad as what you purport TorrentFreak's to be.
        
        If they are such a bad source, then cite some others for us, please. Your blanket comments are otherwise useless.
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        Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2009 @ 6:48am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        "I am not an involved party"
        
        Doesn't sound like it
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        Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2009 @ 12:11pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:
        You dislike Torrent Freak, clearly you are a biased source.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2009 @ 10:12pm
      
      Re: Re: Re:
      I would say if torrent freak is the only source for the story, then perhaps the story isn't real...
      
      Heh, that's what I suspected. You don't have any better source or anything to dispute it. You just want people to stop talking about it. Now why would you want that? My guess is that you're anything but a disinterested party: Probably someone associated with those behind pushing this kind of legislation in the first place who doesn't want the public aware of what they're up to. Like cockroaches, you industry tools hate it when the light is turned on.
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  - Kate in Korea, 24 Jul 2009 @ 11:54pm
    
    Re: Re: Another source
    There's been some talk about this here in Seoul for a few months now. The Korea Times ran a short article about it back in April - http://www.koreatimes.co.kr
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    - Luci, 25 Jul 2009 @ 4:30am
      
      Re: Re: Re: Another source
      And another just two days ago.
      
      http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/07/113_48995.html
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      - CleverName, 25 Jul 2009 @ 6:57am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Another source
        from the linked article - koreatimes.co.kr
        "When the Wonder Girls came out with 'Nobody,' netizens uploaded video clips of their versions of the song. The Wonder Girls themselves loved the clips that greatly helped the song gain wider popularity. From now on that will be illegal.
        "It's illegal because any second-hand creations will have to have permission from the original source," complained one netizen.
        
        Overreaction ? - I dont think so. The artists liked clips that helped their popularity ... but opps ... now look what has happened. So I guess that copyright has nothing to do with the interests of the artist. How does this promote the arts ?
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        Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2009 @ 9:29am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Another source
        All the Wondergirls need to do is set up a website to collect these videos, and brand them official and push them off onto the tube sites. It would give them a massively great reason to interact directly with their fans. "Submit your NObody video for official status!".
        
        Nobody thinks past the ends of their noses!
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        Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2009 @ 11:55am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Another source
        All the Wondergirls need to do is set up a website to collect these videos, and brand them official and push them off onto the tube sites.
        
        If you think that setting up your own website or "pushing" has anywhere near the same impact as having your material shared around by large numbers of fans, then you've got a serious perspective problem and a general lack of understand of the scale and dynamics of the situation. That's very short-sighted thinking.
        
        Nobody thinks past the ends of their noses!
        
        Indeed.
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        Anonymous Coward, 25 Jul 2009 @ 8:11pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Another source
        Why? It matches the CwF part of Mike's model exactly no?
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        Anonymous Coward, 26 Jul 2009 @ 10:18pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Another source
        Why? It matches the CwF part of Mike's model exactly no?
        
        I don't think prosecuting your fans is exactly the kind of "connecting" Mike had in mind.
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Leishtek, 25 Jul 2009 @ 9:33am

well....the MPAA/RIAA are thieves to begin with...
...and their shakedown tactics will draw the "scene" underground, and then it will be harder to track & will involve things not necessarily about trading music. Perhaps dark, sinister things as well.
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Hephaestus (profile), 27 Jul 2009 @ 6:52am

Just to funny ......
Just wondering when the tipping point will occur and all of these laws backfire on the Media industry. that causes a great public out cry and politicians to realize this has gone to far.

Anyone want to speculate on what the catalytic event will be? Or When?
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Marcia Neil, 27 Jul 2009 @ 6:10pm

substitution
Forcefeeding copyright law scandal to Korean diplomats and their constituencies will not bring their severely-hazed VA-Tech 'reporter' back to life; the sudden substitution of one scandal type for another in no way brings such shootings to a halt and can be classified as a diversion. The Koreans do not need 'help' to formulate or enforce their own copyright laws; they can also help route out the telephone call-demand network that orchestrated the VaTech massacre unless blocked with copyright-law diversion.
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rocco sifredi, 10 Oct 2009 @ 11:25pm

Korea art
So finally, they did it!!! I have to say that I am very happy to hear that now a law has been made to protect the CREATION. All the new Music industry in Korea is a copy of the American culture. They sometimes only sing on the song in Korean.I am tired of watching the TV and see that only the way they look (sometimes quite nice)is the only talent they do have.
Korea is not known to be very creative. Everything socks.Everything is copyed from somewhere. They are empty headed.

Now guy's, do like everybody else, CREATE on you OWN!!!!!!
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