Ruling Party and Government Hold Working-Level Meeting on Synthetic Biology and Digital Bill of Rights
Park Seong-jung: "Non-discriminatory Access is Good, but Fake News Must Be Addressed"
Hong Seok-jun: "Need to Ensure Safety and Reliability in Digital Society"
On the 5th, the People Power Party is pushing for the addition of provisions to the government's announced 'Digital Bill of Rights' that can prevent fake news and comment manipulation. The Digital Bill of Rights announced by the Yoon Suk-yeol administration contains basic principles guaranteeing freedoms and rights enjoyed in the digital environment, and the ruling party argues that guidelines ensuring the safety and reliability of digital usage must be explicitly included as well.
The People Power Party and the government held a working-level party-government meeting at the National Assembly on the same day to discuss the promotion plan for the Digital Bill of Rights and the strategy for developing and spreading core synthetic biology technologies.
Park Sung-joong, the ruling party's ranking member of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Broadcasting and Communications Committee and a member of the People Power Party, told reporters after the meeting, "There have been various discussions about the Digital Bill of Rights so far," adding, "In conclusion, it is composed of a total of 6 chapters and 28 articles, envisioning a new digital order for the people, protection of rights, elimination of discrimination in digital usage, protection of diverse privacy, and advancing together toward global welfare."
The Digital Bill of Rights announced by the government at the end of last month contains five basic principles: ▲ Guaranteeing freedom and rights in the digital environment ▲ Fair access to digital resources and equal opportunities ▲ A safe and trustworthy digital society ▲ Promotion of digital innovation based on autonomy and creativity ▲ Enhancement of human welfare.
On the 22nd, at the full meeting of the Science, Technology, Information and Broadcasting and Communications Committee held at the National Assembly, Park Seong-jung, the ruling party's secretary, is conducting the meeting on behalf of Chairman Jang Je-won, while ruling party members are absent. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@
However, since the Bill of Rights draft was created by the Ministry of Science and ICT, there is a possibility that some content discussed within the party will be added. Park said at the meeting, "Among the opinions raised by lawmakers today, while the right to use digital environments without discrimination for many people is good, there were many opinions that unreasonable aspects related to fake news should also be included."
There was also a claim that regulatory standards should be aligned with advanced countries. Hong Seok-jun, a People Power Party lawmaker who attended the meeting, said, "For reference, advanced countries like the United States and the European Union (EU) autonomously regulate specific IPs on their portals, but there is no such regulation at all in our country," expressing concern that "beyond fake news, there is a very high possibility that in the future, people could be manipulated by machines." Hong added, "Some level of guidelines is absolutely necessary," and said, "I think we should also include considerations on how to secure safety and reliability in the digital society."
Meanwhile, the party and government decided to establish a bio-cluster for focused investment, research, and human resource development in collaboration with academia related to synthetic biology.
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