INTERNET REGULATORY POLICY IN KOREA: ITS ORIGINS, IMPACT, AND CHANGES
Abstract
This study aims to show the reason why the Korean Internet regulatory policy to ensure safety has its own uniqueness which cannot be observed in other countries; using external plug-in program instead of built-in and highly dependent upon specific platform. According to this study following the institutional approach of regulatory policies, these ‘Korean-style” regulations were created to solve technological constraints in the early beginning stage of development of Internet transactions, but these regulatory policies results in many unexpected outcomes,” such as strengthening monopoly in Operating system and Web browser market, customers’ inconvenience, and paradoxical outcome which regulations intended to enhance security eventually weaken the safety These regulations have been challenged, and recently announced its abolishment by Korean government due to its negative consequences. Based upon this case, this study argues that the technological factor, inertia of institution, and various actors and their interests around regulatory policies are important to understand these regulatory policies, and it contends that iT regulatory policies should be technologically neutral because these policies cannot catch up the rapid
evolution of these industries.