Online comment

Online comments (인터넷 댓글) are comments posted on the Internet bulletin boards run by a portal or Website operator. In most cases, the Internet users may post online comments anonymously.

In the past, as illustrated below, only netizens with real names verified could post online comments. Now a netizen who posted a malicious comment against a public figure on the Internet could be accused on account of the Internet defamation.

Against these backdrops, an Internet campaign, Sunfull Movement (선플운동), which is to promote encouraging and hopeful comments to others, is staged nationwide to counter cyberbullying and hateful comments.

Key words
online comment, anonymity, real name, unconstitutional, online disinhibition effect

Psychology of anonymous posting
Who are those guys who post malicious comments in the Internet?

They are similar to those people who, at other times, are meek as a lamb or bear themselves gracefully, but drive recklessly enjoying the anonymity of being behind the wheel. It's because such anonymity gives aggressive drivers a false sense of control and snobbery. They feel like being protected by anonymity even if they strip themselves bare and walk around naked in their own private closet.

So when they shed their identity, they exert themselves to put usual constraints on their behaviors not to air their dirty laundry in public. In the cyberspace which guarantees anonymity, they used to turn abruptly into a rude and raunchy debauchee.

Some netizens, a fractious minority in the Internet, who sneak behind anonymity seem to get a kick out of it by wielding enough power to skew readers' perception of a certain issue. Their inflammatory remarks usually undermine the integrity of discussion, hinder substantive discourse, and land others in a culture of aggression and mockery.

The scholars who study the psychology of online comments term such a phenomenon as online disinhibition effect (온라인 脫억제 효과).

On the other hand, anonymity has also been shown to encourage participation; by promoting a greater sense of community identity, users don’t have to worry about standing out individually. Anonymity can also boost a certain kind of creative thinking and lead to improvements in problem-solving.

It's true that anonymous or pseudonymous comments become extreme and irresponsible. We may pour out volumes of abuse which is impossible when we come face-to-face. Reduced sense of responsibility drives us to engage in a moral behavior. It amounts to the sense of freedom which is usually felt at the grounds of reserved army training camps. It looks like a dog which try to make himself known with an accidental bark.

Internet real name system
When a famous female actress committed suicide being discouraged by malicious comments on the Internet bulletin board, the so-called "Choi Jin-sil Law" was legislated. But a petition filed by "Internet Media Today," an online media company, among others in 2010, claimed that the law was discriminatory.

On August 23, 2012, the Constitutional Court ruled unanimously that the real name requirement imposed on big portal service providers by relevant statutes Article 44-5 (Authentication of On-line Bulletin Board User) of the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Data Protection, etc. (정보통신망 이용촉진 및 정보보호 등에 관한 법률)
 * (1) Any person who falls under any of the following subparagraphs shall take such necessary measures as provided for by the Presidential Decree regarding the user authenticaion method and process (hereinafter referred to as "Authenticaion Measures) so as to operate on-line bulletin boards.
 * 1. omitted
 * 2. Information Communication Service Providers (ICSPs) whose typical service are regularly used by more than 100 thousand persons daily on average, and who satisfy the standards as specified by the Presidential Decree.

Article 29 (Authentication Measures) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act
 * The "necessary measures as provided for by the Presidential Decree" in other parts than each Subparagraphs of Article 44-5 (1) shall mean all of the following Subparagraphs: 
 * 1. To secure any method to authenticate the user of the bulletin board by requesting Certified Authentication Agencies pursuant to Article 2 x of the Digital Signature Act (전자서명법) and other third party or administrative agencies who provide authentication services, or by using facsimile or face-to-face confirmation;
 * 2. To secure technologies to prevent the authentication data from being leaked or hacked when employing the authentication procedure and maintaining such authentication data; and
 * 3. To maintain the authentication data for the period from the date of posting messages on the bulletin board to the date when six months passed from the closing of such posting.

Article 30 (Scope of ICSPs required to take Authentication Measures) of the Enforcement Decree of the Act
 * (1) "Any person who satisfies the standards as specified by the Presidential Decree" as stated in Article 44-5 (1) ii of the Act shall mean the Information Communication Service Provider whose services are regularly used by more than 100 thousand persons daily on average during the preceding three months as of the previous year. 
 * (2) omitted is unconstitutional, such provision is in violation of the principle of less restrictive alternative (과잉금지의 원칙) and freedom of speech (표현/언론의 자유) of both users as well as ISPs in the cyberspace, and the self-determination (자기결정권) of personal information.

As a result, the "Choi Jin-sil Law" was to be discarded. However, the real name system has been maintained in the provisions of the Act for the Promotion of Game Industries (게임산업진흥에 관한 법률), the Public Election Act (공직선거법), etc.