AUG. 11, 2011 • The Ministry of Public Administration and Security of South Korea’s National Assembly held hearings on whether to abolish the country’s policy of registering Korea Internet users with their real names. Users are required to register their real name and residence registration number in order to play online games, as well as join and post content on commercial websites. The issue arose after web portals Cyworld and Nate, were hacked to obtain the name, phone number and residence registration number of 35 million users.

Impact: The recent Cyworld-Nate security breaches once again sparked an old national debate over the online real-name system. The online real-name system was put in place in 2007 in order to hold individuals accountable for their actions in a cyberspace.  The current policy of most businesses is to store user information entered into online portal sites for six months. Yet the rash of site hacking is causing a public uproar. To prevent further compromises, policy makers in Korea are discussing possible solutions such as abandoning the real-name policy over a period of time, simplifying the existing authentication process, and creating an alternative to national ID numbers. Any substantive changes in the real-name system, however, will take a long time to materialize since there are no apparent alternatives in hand.