by Cat on December 14, 2006
I hope this works.
A university professor who uses UNIX and the open-source Internet browser Firefox is planning to file a class action early next year to force the government to make its web presence accessible to people who don’t use Microsoft software.
“In the U.S., Britain, and France, there is no inconvenience faced by Internet users that don’t employ Microsoft’s software,” Kim said. In the case of Denmark, the government requires by law that public Web sites, such as online tax payment or bank sites, to not discriminate by computer operating system and Internet browser, he said.
However, the South Korean government designs its Web sites based on only Microsoft’s software. One of the government’s Web sites even carries a warning: ‘This page is for use through Internet Explorer.’ Kim Yeong-hong, a senior official at a civic group, said, “Because Web sites are designed with a certain company’s monopolistic software in mind, Internet users who don’t use the software are banned from accessing the Web sites.”
I mean, really, it shouldn’t take a lawsuit, but I am amazed at the number of websites in this “wired” country that don’t run in Firefox or Safari. It’s not just government sites, but online banking services and shopping sites require the use of IE. Which, really, when you think about it, it’s like all of these companies are forcing Koreans to deal with pop-ads, spyware, and just a really crappy browser. And that’s just wrong.
Interested in the cause? Check out the group’s website at open.unfix.net.
Via: The Hankyoreh
by Cat on December 1, 2006
No, actually, this is not an attempted coup. Nor is it even a particularly heated debate in the National Assembly. This happened at a university symposium on a proposed high school history book.
I understand that a book that refers to the coup d’etat that brought Park Chung Hee to power this way:
“a crucial incident which gave birth to a new administrative power that led Korea’s industrialization, which was the most important national task at the time”
is significant cause for concern. But is this really the best way to conduct an academic debate?
*From an article in The Hankyoreh covering yesterday’s Textbook Forum symposium at Seoul National University.
by Cat on November 10, 2006
I can only imagine the Google traffic I’m going to get for this.
Also from today’s Dong-A:
Employers of phone sex companies have been arrested on charges of taking the personal information of 8,420,000 customers from rival companies and sending about 100 million lascivious text messages to them.
OK. This was over in the sidebar until I looked at the numbers again. They took the personal info of 8.4 million customers? (First, that’s a lot of customers. More than half the population of Seoul gettin’ it on via cellular. You horny little freaks, you!)
But, they sent 100 million text messages to 8 million people? I’m surprised anyone gets any work done here. Am I reading this wrong, or does something not compute*?
*Alright, alright. From reading the story, it appears the writer (who hopefully translated the numbers correctly–though it still looks like they might have gotten eight thousand confused with 8 million) might have confused number of pieces of consumer information, with number of actual consumers. But, still, it’s a really funny lead. . .
by Cat on October 26, 2006
Journalist, and former Washington Post correspondent in Seoul, Peter Maass on the influence of Korean nationalism and recent “radioactive” developments on the peninsula.
Whatever happened to nationalism and the risky maneuverings of states? Nothing, actually. Kim Jong Il, entering from stage far-left, reminds us that new threats, like Islamic extremism, do not replace old ones.
The Korean peninsula is an ancient hothouse for nationalism and its offshoots; it is also a brilliant example of the uses, abuses and durability of national esteem.
From the New York Times Sunday Magazine. Read the rest here.
