Digital Prison: Public Interest or Private Revenge... 'Sinsang Bakje' Websites Under Scrutiny

Controversy Over 'Sinsangbakje' Sites Like Digital Prison and Scarlet Letter
Purpose to Punish Sexual Offenders Such as Son Jung-woo of Welcome to Video and n번방
Criticism of 'Private Punishment' Grows as Innocent Civilians Suffer
Experts Say "Operating Private Sanction Sites Is Illegal... Prompt Arrests Needed"

Introduction section of the 'Digital Gyodoso' website. / Photo by Digital Gyodoso capture

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Juhyung] Controversy is growing over so-called 'personal information exposure' websites that arbitrarily disclose the personal information of individuals suspected of sexual crimes. These websites claim to have been established with the purpose of 'social punishment' in place of judicial institutions that impose lenient punishments for serious crimes such as sexual violence and murder. However, criticism is mounting that these sites are essentially private sanctions, as innocent people are falsely labeled as criminals and suffer damages.

These personal information exposure websites register detailed personal information such as face photos, workplaces, schools, and phone numbers of individuals suspected to be users of sexual exploitation materials or sex offenders on their bulletin boards. This kind of personal information 'exposure' is done by website operators who receive reports from netizens or collect information themselves. Representative examples include 'Digital Prison' and 'Telegram Vigilante Scarlet Letter'.

These personal information exposure websites were established with the purpose of privately punishing criminals whom the law has failed to properly punish.

In particular, social perception that the sentences for sex offenders such as Son Jung-woo, operator of the world's largest child sexual exploitation site 'Welcome to Video', and the so-called 'Nth Room' operators who produced and distributed sexual exploitation materials of minors and women in secret Telegram messenger rooms for a fee, were lenient, along with the resulting anger and distrust in the judiciary, appear to have been the driving force behind the emergence of such private websites.

Previously, Son Jung-woo was arrested and indicted on charges of distributing about 220,000 videos of child and youth sexual exploitation materials through his website for approximately 2 years and 8 months from July 2015 to March 2018. At that time, the second trial court sentenced Son Jung-woo to 1 year and 6 months in prison.

At that time, the U.S. Department of Justice requested his extradition under the extradition treaty, but the court decided not to extradite him, and Son was released on July 6 after serving his sentence.

American and British media such as The New York Times (NYT) and BBC reported on the court's decision, stating that "(the court's decision) was a great disappointment to Korean anti-child pornography groups" and "while in the U.S., possession of child pornography videos results in 5 to 15 years imprisonment, Son received only 18 months."

A man who was arrested on July 3 for violating the Act on the Protection of Children and Youth from Sexual Abuse (commonly known as the Youth Sexual Protection Act) by purchasing child and youth sexual exploitation materials in the Telegram 'n번방' is heading to a transport vehicle to be transferred to the prosecution. / Photo by Yonhap News

Meanwhile, criticism has also been raised that the sentences for key members who produced and distributed sexual exploitation materials on the Nth Room and similar Telegram channels were also 'lenient punishments.'

According to an online survey conducted by the organization 'Project Reset,' which has been promoting the Nth Room sexual exploitation reporting project, targeting 7,509 citizens from June to August, 99.8% of respondents answered that the sentences for digital sex crimes were at a lenient level.

The creator of 'Digital Prison' stated in the site introduction, "Feeling the limits of lenient punishments for heinous criminals, we intend to directly disclose their personal information to subject them to social judgment."

He added, "This website operates on servers located overseas with strong encryption and is not affected at all by South Korea's cyber defamation or insult laws."

The problem is that these personal information exposure sites are private websites with limited access to information, posing risks of harming innocent people and having a high possibility of malicious use.

Earlier, Digital Prison disclosed the face, student ID number, and phone number of a university student A, claiming he requested 'Jiin Neungyok' (the act of synthesizing a friend's photo with obscene materials and posting it online). Digital Prison explained that after their own verification, they judged A's criminal behavior to be clear and thus disclosed his personal information.

However, after his personal information was exposed, A appealed his innocence, saying, "The photo, phone number, and name posted on the prison site are correct, but everything else is false," and was found dead at his home on the 3rd. It was reported that A suffered greatly, receiving threatening text messages via his phone after the exposure.

In July, women voiced their condemnation of the court's decision to reject the United States' request to extradite Son Jung-woo, the operator of the world's largest child sexual exploitation site "Welcome to Video." / Photo by Yonhap News

In June, Professor Chae Jeong-ho of the Department of Psychiatry at Catholic University Medical School was also exposed on Digital Prison for allegedly attempting to purchase sexual exploitation videos on Telegram. Professor Chae later sued the Digital Prison operator for defamation, and the police, after conducting digital forensics on Professor Chae's phone, concluded that "the person posted on Digital Prison is not Professor Chae."

As a result, criticism has arisen that websites like Digital Prison are essentially private punishment tools.

On the 8th, Han Sang-hyuk, chairman of the Korea Communications Commission, appeared before the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting Committee and said, "Digital Prison is engaging in private punishment, and the content itself is defamation," adding, "Recently, three requests for access blocking and deletion have been received and are under review. We will issue correction orders, and if that does not work, there may be criminal penalties."

Experts have called for the swift arrest of operators of these personal information exposure websites but also suggested that the root causes of such private sanctions must be addressed.

Professor Lee Soo-jung of Kyonggi University said in a radio interview on the 7th, "Operating Digital Prison is clearly illegal. The perpetrators must be caught quickly," but also added, "We cannot ignore why these things happened in the first place. (Digital Prison and others) are gaining public sympathy."

She continued, "Sexual violence, especially involving children, is punished very lightly. Because of this, individuals take it upon themselves to seek revenge or act for the public good, which is the intention behind these sites," advising, "If the prescribed sentences are insufficient, the issue should be resolved through proper legislative procedures or by raising sentencing guidelines through the Sentencing Commission."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.