Should parents spy on their children? South Korean Smart Sheriff law

A new law in South Korea dictates that smartphone spyware is installed on  children’s phones – yes,
you heard right! One smartphone spyware app, “Smart Sheriff” which was developed and funded by the South Korean government was originally designed to block access to pornography and other inappropriate content unfit for children’s eyes. However, last month the country’s telecoms censorship watchdog South Korea Communications Commission (KCC) upped the ante, making it mandatory that all new phones have government-approved smartphone spyware installed. There are at least 14 smartphone spyware apps, including Smart Sheriff, that will do the same job.

According to South Korean governmental data, 80 per cent of children in South Korea aged 18 and below own a smartphone, and the spyware app Smart Sheriff has already been downloaded around 500,000 times!

Smartphone spyware apps like Smart Sheriff allow parents “to monitor how long their kids use their smartphones, how many times they use apps and which websites they visit.” The app is supposedly to protect children in South Korea from bad language and inappropriate web content, but is this really South Korea’s main objective or is it yet another government masquerading under the guise to protect children, when in fact, it’s more about their ability to spy on millions of users?

The new measure stipulates that the smartphone spyware app will be pre-installed on all new smartphones for children under the age of 19, but existing phones will be spared. When I cast my eye back to when I was a teenager the very idea of having smartphone spyware, like Smart Sheriff, pre-installed on my phone would drive me crazy. In fact I wouldn’t have bothered owning one and wait til I was 19. Wooo I’m 19 – I don’t need smartphone spyware on my phone and I don’t need a governess.

Of course, there are pro’s and con’s to this new regulation. An obvious pro for parents is being able to communicate with their children and ensure their safety. But for parents who restrict and perhaps mollycoddle their children a little too much, is this an open invitation to suppress a child’s right to freedom and privacy?

Another point to consider, which may perhaps come across slightly conspiracy theory-esque, but is this a teaser to what is coming next in South Korea? Could the South Korean government make it law for ALL phones to come with pre-installed spyware?

In the Western world, many parents install smartphone spyware on their child’s phone (mostly without their knowledge) but the difference is that it’s theirs, the parents’ decision, it’s not some ridiculous law forced on parents. Yet!

These types of spyware apps can tell a parent all sorts of information, from the types of conversations their child is having, with some spyware apps flagging words such as “sex” “beer” and “pregnancy”  to the whereabouts of their child.

But what happens if a parent in South Korea doesn’t download Smart Sheriff or one of the other smartphone spyware apps? Well, Techdirt reports that parents who ignore the new law will be badgered by mobile phone providers to download smartphone spyware.

Article 37-8 (Methods and Procedures for Providing Means to Block Media Products Harmful to Juveniles, etc.)
(1) According to Article 32-7(1) of the Act, a telecommunication business operator entering into a contract on telecommunications service with a juvenile under the Juvenile Protection Act must provide means to block the juvenile’s access to the media products harmful to juveniles under the Juvenile Protection Act and the illegal obscene information under Article 44-7(1)1 of the ICNA (“Information harmful to juveniles”) through the telecommunication service on the juvenile’s mobile communications device such as a software blocking information harmful to juveniles.
(2) Procedures prescribed below must be followed when providing the blocking means under (1):
At the point of signing the contract:

1. Notification to the juvenile and his/her legal representative regarding types and features of the blocking means; and
2. Check on the installation of the blocking means.

After closing the contract:
Monthly notification to the legal representative if the blocking means was deleted or had not been operated for more than 15 days.

Is it a parent’s fundamental right to know where their child is 24/7? Their age is a definite factor, but let’s take a teenager, 17 years old. How many parents know where their teenager is and what they are up to, all the time? Surely part of growing up is to slowly cut the apron strings, to venture out into the big wide world, to get street-wise (but not to the point of tearing up neighborhoods or getting into all sorts of trouble!) It’s a gradual learning process to explore, to mingle with friends, to grow up. When you place strict boundaries, children tend to rebel, especially when they hear ‘you’re not going out,” or “you’re grounded” and as we often see in movies, they sneak out of their bedroom window anyway. Is freedom of expression and a right to privacy not p   art of the process of finding your feet, and exiting adolescence and entering the adult world?

According to The Associated Press the smartphone spyware app, Smart Sheriff, is currently only available on the Android operating system, – so two ways to escape mass surveillance for the time being at least, is to buy an iPhone, or wait til you’re 19.

Is South Korea on its way to producing a new generation of people who won’t fight for their right to privacy, and expression of freedom – because they never knew such rights ever existed?

Do you think spying on children using smartphone spyware like Smart Sheriff is a good idea, or does this infringe on their right to privacy? Has South Korea gone too far?

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