This news feels particularly timely this week and a good place to set future standards. The Korean court has handed down a guilty sentence to a 24-year old K-netizen who was found to have spread unfounded and malicious rumors about Lee Seo Jin and Sunny of SNSD. The person commented on a website of over 1 million users that Lee Seo Jin and Sunny had a special relationship after doing a variety show together and that the staff and crew all knew about it. Lee Seo Jin’s side reported this to the police who investigated and charged that online commenter. The sentence includes 6 months of jail time, 2 years suspended sentence, and 80 hours of community service. Good start and hopefully a few more of these cases taken seriously will start to have a ripple effect in the untamed anonymity of online users. Continue reading →