http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/SITE/data/html_dir/2004/05/10/200405100014.asp By Kim Tong-hyung (thkim@private) 2004.05.10 Law enforcement agencies plan to grant the Ministry of Information and Communication police power to combat computer crimes such as network hacking, a move that is expected to generate controversy over individual rights and the limits of the state's authority. "Basic agreements were reached with the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Government Administration and Home Affairs in March in extending juridical authority," said a ministry official on Friday. "We think our trained personnel and technical infrastructure at the Korea Information Security Agency to cover the areas in computer crimes the National Police Agency lacks in efficiency in controlling," he said. More than 600 cases of unsolicited e-mail distribution and personal information infringements were reported to the police last year, compared with none in 2002. If the plan is approved, the ministry officials will have the authority to investigate such cases without a police warrant. Ministry officials hope related regulations will be revised by the National Assembly by the end of the year. Legal experts criticized the plan as an unreasonable expansion of government authority. "Government authority to control over individual freedom should be accessed by authorized and limited personnel only, since it harbors the possibility of violating civic rights," said lawyer Lee Eun-woo, a member of Lawyers for a Democratic Society. "If police needed help with computer crimes, they could always request technical assistance from the ministry or other telecom companies. There is no reason to expand the jurisdiction itself." Under the tentative plan, the ministry will have a 24-person inspection team with two agents from the Korea Information Security Agency sent to each of the eight provincial police agencies across the nation. The ministry official said talks were currently under way between the Justice Ministry and National Police Agency on jurisdiction matters. The National Police Agency has balked at the plan since it was broached in March by justice officials. It says that it would be more reasonable to increase personnel and budgets of the police computer crime investigation units. "The crimes in the information technology sector aren't disconnected with other types of crimes happening in other areas. It's not like technology experts could handle them alone," said a police agency spokesman. Currently, the Information and Communication Ministry has jurisdiction over limited cases, including the violation of software copyrights and destruction or illegal use of electronic and radio communication equipment. The ministry also runs branch organizations of Korea Information Security Agency and the Information and Communication Ethics Committee to oversee information security and inspection of Internet content. _________________________________________ ISN mailing list Sponsored by: OSVDB.org
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon May 10 2004 - 01:20:49 PDT