Police Launch Investigation into Alleged Manipulation of Constitutional Court Bulletin Board
Macro Program Suspected in Mass Posting of Anti-Impeachment Messages
Access to Website Temporarily Paralyzed Due to Surge in Posts
Democratic Party Files Complaint Against Macro Program Developers and Users
It has been confirmed that the police have launched a formal investigation and begun summoning suspects regarding allegations of manipulating public opinion by posting a large number of anti-impeachment messages on the free bulletin board of the Constitutional Court website in March.
According to the Cyber Investigation Unit of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency on May 13, an investigation is underway into suspicions that an automated input program, or "macro," was used to post a large number of messages on the Constitutional Court's free bulletin board in a short period of time. The police have identified circumstances in which posts were uploaded to the Constitutional Court's bulletin board using a macro program, and have booked those involved on charges including violations of the Information and Communications Network Act. Summons schedules have been notified to the parties concerned.
Previously, the Constitutional Court detected more than ten times the usual number of access attempts and blocked access to the website using a macro detection program starting March 10. At that time, with 4,000 to 6,000 users attempting to access the site, the bulletin board was effectively paralyzed, but after the macro activity was blocked, access returned to normal from March 11.
According to the Constitutional Court, there were about 14,000 posts on the free bulletin board on March 8, but this number surged to 160,000 on March 9?more than ten times higher?and reached 250,000 on March 10.
There were allegations that this was the result of spamming the bulletin board using a "macro program." At the time, a post appeared on the "People Power Party Gallery" stating that a script (code) had been created to automatically register posts on the bulletin board on March 9. After controversy arose, the post sharing the macro program was deleted.
The police became aware of these facts and announced on March 11 that they would begin a preliminary investigation prior to booking suspects. On March 13, the Democratic Party's Misinformation Monitoring Group filed a complaint with the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency against the developers and users of the macro program, accusing them of disrupting the operation of the Constitutional Court's bulletin board.
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