1. Objectives and Implication

Korean society has moved into the era of smart media technologies with personal and social changes triggered by the development of smartphones. A great number of people find information, handle their works, and build up relationships with other people by using smart media, mostly smartphones. In other words, smart media is at the center of social, cultural, and economic changes as well as human communication.
Korea has seen the highest smartphone penetration rate around the globe: Strategy Analytics announced that the country’s smartphone penetration rate hit 67.6% in 2012, the highest record in the world, which is 4.6 times higher than the average 14.8% among the rest of the world. The number of smartphone users in Korea skyrocketed between 2009 and 2010 after Apple’s iPhone and Samsung’s Galaxy S were released. The number has been on the explosive increase leading to market saturation since LTE with enhanced speed of data service was first launched in 2011.
Smart media technologies have been applied to a variety of devices ranging from smartphones to tablet PCs and smart televisions. The domestic tablet shipments are expected to grow from 1.7 million in 2012 to 2.14 million in 2013, and the number of households using smart televisions is predicted to rise from 2.61 million in 2012 to 6.89 million in 2015. M2M services are also increasingly used for GPS devices, traffic cards, ATM, and postal tracking system. Moreover, along with smartphones and tablets, new gadgets for home entertainment or wearable devices have been introduced in the market. In 2013, innovative smart devices for next generation, such as smart watches and glasses, are expected to be uncovered. Smart media has brought about remarkable changes not only in the industry but also in personal lives and society. The use of information and the way of communication have completely changed. High-speed wireless internet and cloud computing system have served as a driving force for the development of smart media, the integration of devices, service, and contents.
Smart media including smartphones, smart televisions, and smart PCs has evolved to provide service smoothly through integrated wired-wireless networks. Thanks to such changes, users can access to networks anytime anywhere and fully enjoy the advantages of smart technologies in their everyday life. People increasingly use smartphones more than PCs to spend time on social networking services as they can take and upload pictures, express their thoughts, and communicate with other people by leaving comments in real time. In other words, the era of smart communication has come.
On the other hand, users have become more vulnerable to the violation and infringement of their rights since they stay online most of the day and share their personal information on SNS. The authorities have modified related laws and regulations to protect users’ rights. Still, there are a great deal of urgent issues to be resolved in legal and political aspects to keep up with the rapid advancement of smart media devices and services and the soaring number of smart media users. Aside from the violation issues, it is also necessary to provide proper guidelines to the smart technology and service industries with regard to the absence of regulations for unexpected new devices or services.
However, tightening the regulations should be carefully considered because it may shrink the smart media industry or violate the freedom of expression, one of the fundamental human rights of citizens. Therefore, opinions and feedbacks from users, business operators, and regulatory authorities need to be reflected altogether to improve institutions. To this end, the authorities should probe violation cases, collect different views for the severity of violation, relief measures for victims, and the intensity of regulations, and take various advices from business operators, experts, related institutions, and legal professionals to complement the current laws and regulations in order to protect users’ rights.
This study aims to look into smart media user behaviors, violation cases of users’ rights, and their awareness of violation and regulations. Furthermore, the study suggests essential components of protective policies for smart media users and policy implications by collecting different views of business operators, experts, and legal professionals.

2. Main Points and Methods

2.1 Main Points
For the purpose of this study, two different surveys were conducted among ordinary citizens and experts separately to analyze their awareness of infringement and protection of users’ rights in the age of smart media technologies. The main points of the study were selected to suggest legislative direction by forecasting potential violations of users’ rights and analyzing related laws and regulations at home and abroad.

2.2 Methods
The survey among ordinary citizens was conducted by Korean research company Focus Company. From August 14th to 20th in 2013, the survey was carried out in a web survey format among smart media users, the quota sample from 16 metropolitan cities and provinces. The questionnaire was arranged by considering issues discussed in the presentations and meetings with experts, dispute cases on smart media websites, and reference research. The survey inquired about the use of smart media devices, experiences and awareness of infringement of users’ rights, and awareness of user protection policy and related regulations.
Before conducting an in-depth survey among experts, a discussion was held to talk about issues in respect of protection for smart media users with business operators (web portal operators and cable broadcasters), legal professionals (lawyers), IT critics, and officials in charge of cybercrime in the National Police Agency. The in-depth survey was carried out twice by employing the Delphi method. The expert group, selected by snowball sampling, consists of 8 business operators and 9 legal professionals and officials from regulatory institutions. The first survey was held from August 9th to 19th and the second round from September 8th to 16th in 2013. In the first round, the respondents were questioned about the use of smart media, violation of users’ rights and prospect, and the current laws and policies. In the second round, the respondents expressed their agreement or disagreement with other experts’ opinions based on the answers from the first round.

3. Results

3.1. Results from the Survey among Ordinary Citizens
First of all, the regulatory authorities tend to ease the current regulations on new media including smart media nowadays. However, smart media users want their rights to be protected by tightened regulations.
Second, it is necessary to expand preventive education on violation of users’ rights and raise awareness among users. Most smart media users are aware that they may defame someone’s reputation or invade other users’ privacy by disclosing personal information. Since damages caused by defamation or slander are particularly serious among students, it is inevitable to implement preventive education in school.
Third, infringement cases have been resolved in different ways depending on the types. If the case is related to personal information, victims tend to contact the uploader and try to resolve the case directly. In contrast, victims tend to deal with defamation or slander cases relying on service providers or arbitral institutions. Accordingly, it is necessary to provide users with guidelines that inform appropriate solutions and conciliation procedures for each type of cases.
Fourth, in the cases of defamation or slander, victims tend to resolve the problem on their own or choose non-governmental methods rather than contacting report centers or taking legal actions. While users want strong regulations and enforcement measures, they prefer to resolve actual disputes through non-governmental channels. Therefore, the authorities should enhance the effectiveness of the regulations by invigorating the roles of service providers and private organizations to mediate disputes over violation cases.
Last, smart media users want their rights to be protected by strengthened regulations, but their high sense of ethics is also needed to reduce damages from infringement of users’ rights and interests.

3.2 Results from the Survey among Expert Group
First of all, experts recognize the convenience and social influence of smart media, but also express concerns over exposure of privacy, collection of personal information, extensive violation of users’ rights, national security, and media addiction.
Second, the experts think that smart media users have more responsibilities than the government or business operators for infringement of users’ rights, and they are also in opposition to strengthening the regulations. The experts believe that the current regulations are world-class compared to those of other countries and that some regulations are rather inefficient and meaningless.
Third, it seems necessary to reorganize dispersed laws and regulations and to amend the current information and communication network law. The experts point out several issues including difficulties in practical and technical regulation, excessive temporary measures, loopholes in procedures for raising oppositions, and arbitrary interpretation of regulations among business operators.
Fourth, it is crucial to discuss ex ante self-regulation more than ex post government regulation in order to protect users’ rights. In the age of smart media, it is ideal to combine self-regulation and government regulation in balance. It is hard to achieve social consensus on government regulation such as the introduction of the real-name accounts and strengthening the regulations on business operators. However, as long as the government takes the initiative, it is possible to establish the self-regulation system ly by providing guidelines, developing software for blocking harmful contents, running preventive programs for media addicts, and expanding research and education for users.
Last, considering that smart media has become a huge part of everyday life, there should be more opportunities to discuss policies which lack public consensus. Many experts point out that part of the current regulations are inefficient and useless. It is important to form a consensus on the effectiveness of the current regulations among users, business operators, and officials in charge of related policies.

3.3 Analysis of Related Cases in Other Countries
First, in other countries where the use of smart media has increased, the most noticeable problems are the invasion of privacy including unauthorized disclosure of personal information. Such information is likely to be leaked by government organizations or private business operators. In addition, those leaked information may also be used for second offenses.
Second, the violation of users’ rights is still a critical issue, but many governments tend to place more emphasis on self-regulation and cooperation between public and private sectors. In the UK, the Leveson Report finds that the internet regulation is practically difficult and meaningless. In the US, the government agrees with the fact that the use of smart media causes serious invasion of privacy, but it still relies on the self-regulation policies of Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) or the guidelines of Federal Trade Commission (FTC), rather than the government’s direct intervention. Japan, where the government has related laws including the personal information protection act and the internet environment improvement act for teenagers, also focuses on guidelines of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and self-regulation and media education of private organizations.
Third, another critical issue is about how much responsibility service providers have. In the UK, granting new authority and duty to information commissioners (ICO) by amending the information protection laws has been discussed. Japan has enacted individual laws about the responsibility of service providers.
Fourth, most governments recognize that the convenience of smart media may threaten national security. For instance, the UK perceived that smart media may be abused for terrorist attacks, and thus it has considered the direct regulation. In the US, several judicial precedents showed that national or public interests have priority over individual rights.
Last, some other implications were found in the cases of other countries: the British government’s opposition to “the right to be forgotten” due to impossibility of regulation; the necessity of granting immunity to retweeters (the US finds publishers/speakers and distributors different); the integration of regulatory institutions; and establishment of dispute settlement organizations.

4. Policy Proposition

This study reviewed laws and regulations at home and abroad, related cases of other countries, awareness of ordinary citizens, and opinions of experts, and it would like to suggest the following in order to establish proper policies for protecting users’ rights.
First, given that citizens are concerned about violation of users’ rights, the authorities should raise awareness among citizens and provide education on related laws and regulations to relieve such anxiety first. Such education will not only inform ordinary citizens about the range of infringement and illegal activities in detail, but also relieve their uneasiness. To this end, such education should be included in the curriculum of schools, and the policymakers should provide diverse guidelines with users.
Second, the authorities and the industry should discuss protective measures for users’ rights considering the current trend. This issue needs to be discussed beyond the territory of the internet or online space. The authorities should come up with countermeasures by prioritizing different types of new violation cases. In particular, unauthorized disclosure of personal information and following damages are more serious problems than defamation or violation of portrait rights and copyrights. Furthermore, national security is another noteworthy issue. There should also be specific discussion on new type of problems regarding web portals and the right to be forgotten.
Third, there should be consistent measures to reorganize the current protective laws and regulations for users’ rights considering the specific situation of the country. The government has various related laws and arbitral procedures: punishment law for defamation and slander within criminal law and the information and communication network law; individual laws for personal information; those for service providers within the information and communication network law and copyright law; those for harmful contents for teenagers; arbitral procedures of Korea Communications Commission, Korea Copyright Commission, and Press Arbitration Commission. Accordingly, the current laws should be reorganized to apply appropriate individual laws for each type of cases and not to apply similar laws repeatedly.
Fourth, if there are several loopholes in the current laws, it is more desirable to modify and complement those parts than employing new laws. Experts point out that several current measures, especially the temporary measures within the information and communication network law, are ineffective and that the articles regarding the responsibility and duty of business operators need to be more specific. Business operators have complained that it is hard to take temporary measures, and they also interpret the current articles differently. Therefore, the current laws should be reviewed in various aspects to achieve social consensus.
Fifth, the authorities should complement the policies related to relief procedures in cases of infringement of users’ rights. When users’ rights are violated in smart media, the most critical issue is that disclosed information may spread farther for quite a long time compared to the cases in other media. The current laws and relief procedures are dispersed in the copyright law and the information and communication network law. Besides, related organizations are dispersed as well, including Korea Communications Commission, Korea Copyright Commission, and Press Arbitration Commission. In the survey, citizens tend to take no action or contact the uploader or service providers first when their rights are infringed. That means citizens lack of knowledge about the proper response to infringement issues in smart media.
Sixth, children and teenagers need to be protected by individual laws. Ordinary citizens and experts at home and abroad agree that it is important to protect children and teenagers in the age of smart media. Young children and teenagers are easily exposed to pornography and harmful contents and highly likely to be victims of cyber bullying and violence. There are also concerns about video game addiction. However, the current regulations are criticized for its ineffectiveness. This is ironic in that the protection for children and teenagers is considered a significant policy goal while it lacks effectiveness. The authorities should establish specific policies by considering the nature of children and teenagers and identifying ex ante preventive measures and ex post regulations.
Last but not least, there should be more measures for users to protect their rights actively when they start using smart media. In general, users are in a passive position in respect of protection of their rights. Therefore, users need to be granted more rights for privacy setting. Moreover, new technologies should be developed to be adopted by service providers and help users protect their rights.
For example, if SNS providers adopt Digital Aging system, users will be able to protect their rights to be forgotten. If there are more new technologies to protect teenagers, copyright, and portrait rights, users will understand infringement of their rights for themselves and choose how to protect themselves as they want. This will lead to effective protection of users’ rights.
In conclusion, the protective system for smart media users should be established by raising awareness of violation of users’ rights and reorganizing related laws to keep up with the current trend. At the same time, the authorities should come up with policies that enhance users’ interests by developing new technologies and services for effectively protecting users’ rights.