[Exclusive] Digital Gyodoso Season 2 Operator: "Even If Blocked, We Will Keep Operating by Changing Addresses"

Digital Prison Season 2 Operator's First Media Interview

"Respecting the KCSC Decision but Will Continue Operating with Changed Address"
"Changed Address to be Re-announced This Weekend"
"Security is Tight, Tracking Impossible... Will Accept Legal Punishment if Caught"
"Permanent Resident Living Abroad... Has 5 Assistants"

[Asia Economy Reporters Seungyoon Song and Jeongyun Lee] The second operator of the website 'Digital Prison,' which arbitrarily discloses personal information of criminals and others, has officially announced that despite the Korea Communications Standards Commission's (KCSC) decision to block the site, they will continue operating under a different address. This is the first time the operator has made a separate statement to the media.

The operator known as A, identified as the second operator of Digital Prison, said in an interview with Asia Economy on the 25th, "Since the police investigation is ongoing and complaints about access blocking have been received, the KCSC's decision was inevitable." The KCSC decided at a meeting the previous day to block all access to the Digital Prison site. However, A stated, "Between the 26th and 27th, we plan to announce a new domain and provide instructions on how to bypass the block," adding, "While we respect the KCSC's decision, the public's right to know is more important." A also mentioned that measures to prepare for the site blocking have already been put in place. According to A, the new Digital Prison site to be launched at the new address will be identical to the current site.

Regarding the arrest of the first operator by the police, A said, "I do not feel a great burden because there are no traceable clues," and added, "I have put a lot of effort into security, so I believe the possibility of being tracked is almost none." He also said, "If the police can catch me, I am willing to accept legal punishment." However, he claimed he has no intention of surrendering. Although he did not specify the country, he introduced himself as a permanent resident living abroad. He explained that about five assistants help him with tasks such as verifying posts.

In conclusion, he said, "I would like to once again apologize to Professor Jaeongho Chae and Mr. Doyoon Kim, who were harmed because the first Digital Prison operators posted without sufficient verification of the tips," and added, "As stated in the statement, from now on, posts will only be uploaded when there is clear evidence that anyone can find convincing."

On the 14th, the KCSC had decided to block only 17 individual posts suspected of defamation and privacy invasion instead of blocking the entire Digital Prison site. This was based on the judgment that blocking the entire site due to some illegal content (17 out of 89 posts) would be excessive regulation. However, after Digital Prison consistently ignored the KCSC's voluntary deletion requests, the commission judged that self-regulation was insufficient and decided at a meeting the previous day to block the entire site.

On the 22nd, the police, through international cooperation with the International Criminal Police Organization (ICPO, Interpol), arrested B, a man in his 30s and the first operator of Digital Prison, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The police plan to investigate whether there are other accomplices, including other operators, once B is repatriated to Korea. Additionally, they are investigating the second operator who took over Digital Prison from B as an accomplice.