# 08 South Korea

The Law: Even though South Korea is a world leader in internet penetration, the people won’t get free and unfiltered internet access. You cannot post anything, wearing the mask of anonymity inside the country. It is required by the law, to verify the identity of a person with their citizen identity number, before they can post anything online, even comments! Google was forced to remove the commenting option from YouTube in South Korea due to this rule.

The country had shut down many websites related to anti-conscription, gay and lesbian rights, and anything which writes or posts in favor of North Korea. Blog posts of people who criticize the South Korean president are also deleted. Country blocks the website mainly with

Penalties: If you are caught leaving anonymous comments on blogs which has over 10000 readers, you will get imprisonment up to five years. In 2011, Cho, a 54 year old South Korean man is arrested for posting Twitter and internet messages praising North Korea.