South Korea mandates spyware installation on teenagers' smartphones A law requiring the mass installation of spyware on teenagers' smartphones suggests that the frightening level of population control exercised by its neighbours in "Best Korea" has rubbed off on the Republic's administrators in Seoul. The Republic of South Korea's Communications Commission, a media regulator modeled after the …
Actually this is already on all LG phones. Last year I removed a hidden LG service called "MLT" from my LG phone that looks for words like suicide, porn, drugs, revolt, and a few others. It can only be disabled from the "secret menu".
http://forum.xda-developers.com/lg-g3/general/mod-mlt-service-disabling-t2904361
Once the data has been harvested, collated, indexed and analysed, South Korea will have scientific proof of what teenagers actually do. Spout angsty bollox to each other whilst streaming music & video by any chance?
It reminds me of that documentary on TV a few months back where they used science to find out what cats really get up to, only to find out that they really do spend all their time killing small animals and staring at other cats.
well I suppose the main issue will be that it relays everything back to the parents - and I have it on reliable advice that Korean parents are already lunatic power crazed sociopaths who live out their deranged power fantasies through their children.
It reminds me of that documentary on TV a few months back where they used science to find out what cats really get up to, only to find out that they really do spend all their time killing small animals and staring at other cats.
Wait, there is an animal which can easily lick its own genitals, but doesn't?
"Once the data has been harvested, collated, indexed and analysed, South Korea will have scientific proof of what teenagers actually do. Spout angsty bollox to each other whilst streaming music & video by any chance?"
Should that be spout angsty bollox to each other whilst streaming music & video so loud that everyone in a mile radius can hear it.
parents would always like such things - but is it really for the best? Also the minute it became obvious to your child you had the audacity to spy on it you could kiss any trust you'd built up good bye. Bad enough when you look over their shoulder to see what they're reading / ask them what they're doing when they're in a huff let alone spying on what they invariably view as their private space.
And also if mandated - what are the chances that a kid would ever use their phone for anything sensitive ever again. Just go back to the old fashioned way of getting advice "from the mate down the park that had something like that happen before"
If I'm paying for the network use and the device then it's reasonable for me to say "I've installed something that monitors which sites you go to and has a blacklist of porn sites." No need to be secretive about it.
But if there's that little trust and communication between you and your kids, even if they're teens, then you've fucked it up a bit tbh...
And what's wrong with that? If they knew that from the start, perhaps it would help to keep them honest. Even if they tried to hide their phones or whatever, they have to know there's a risk the parent will check up on the false information and probably see through it. Parents can be many things, but one of the most universal is intolerant of their kids lying to them.
As long as the data gathering is focused on the parent, then it's their call. If it goes beyond that, then things can get hairy. Teens are one thing; they're minors and legally the responsibility of the parent, but adult citizens under the unblinking eye is another matter altogether.
"keep them honest"
See if you're "keeping" someone "honest" they aren't actually honest they don't have a choice, honesty requires a freedom to be dishonest.
Also there's nothing dishonest about a child coming to terms with its sexuality, its mistakes or interests.
"See if you're "keeping" someone "honest" they aren't actually honest they don't have a choice, honesty requires a freedom to be dishonest."
No it doesn't. In fact, honesty should be pressured upon everyone by everyone else: Eternal Vigilance. Otherwise, people will try to cheat, like our representatives and ministers. People will cheat by instinct; it's the whole "get one up on your neighbour so you succeed and he doesn't" thing, so the only way to counter it is to KEEP them honest. Remember, they'll be doing the same thing to you.
"Also there's nothing dishonest about a child coming to terms with its sexuality, its mistakes or interests."
Whatever happened to "The Talk"?
If I'm paying for the network use and the device then it's reasonable for me to...
I'm paying for the house, including his room, the toilets and the bathroom, therefore it's reasonable for me to install spy cameras to see what he's up-to. Sounds creepier, doesn't it ? But it's exactly the same. Leave the kids alone, we did look at porn magazines when we were 15, even though it was also forbidden.
The positive side-effect could be that the kids learn computing (in order to bypass the spyware).
No it's not. Everything done on the internet is already public to some extent. Everything done inside my home is much more private. And spy cameras are hidden. I specifically said that I'd let them know what I'm doing on the phone so you're missing the point totally.
Google already have my kids search history, me having access is not the problem.
Would You? Really? Because you can't really *do* anything with the information without her finding out, getting really pissed at you and taking counter-measures.
My wife found my then 18-years old daughters diary (or was allowed to find, some discussion on that because my daughter were security aware, always has been), then she reads the thing and then she had to tell me about some of the details.
Lets just say that my daughter secretly have been leading leads a very interesting, rich and exciting life .... at least since the age of 16 when that diary started .
Now that we know what we know... we have to struggle with keeping a straight-neutral face and a closed gob whenever she goes travelling in Europe with her many female friends or she mentions visiting some of her several (not unattractive, at least) male friends. I'm glad she is having fun and all, but, .... I'd rather preferred the low-res version!
I think the only way is to attempt to be the kind of parent that they trust to tell their problems, I think I managed OK because my teenage son discussed his temporary impotence with me ...
...only applicable to Android phones, and not to those produced by Apple...
Way to undermine some of your largest domestic companies, SK.
The cynic in my has to wonder if this mandate has been cooked up by Apple to entice (coerce? force??) smartphone users away from the home team.
Korean culture is still very traditional in a lot of ways. This wouldn't even be necessary for most Korean teenagers - they are in night-time cram schools.
Also, night-life in Korea is a bit more varied than the UK options of telly or pub. Shops are open late, there's specialty tea/coffee/dessert shops, sports/skate parks (not filled exclusively with thug life teenagers). I would be a lot happier if my daughter was out at night in Korea than in the UK.
All the kids need to do is just add the keywords to the end of every message.
Parents will soon get fed up filtering through all the messages to see which ones actually had something interesting in them.
2013 data i can see says something like 60 messages a day each, as the app monitors incoming and out going that can be multiplied up by the number of friends each. Add in a couple years of growth, and the reduced cost of the contracts (free?).
I could imagine 100+ messages a day, on top of app and web activity. If all of them have #uptheduff in them when is a parent going to have time to check them all
Why? If they're anything like my pre-teen daughter it'll be spouting mindless bollocks to their mates about "who's going out with whom"(*) , stomping about the house looking moody, occasionally arguing with parents and slamming doors when things don't go their way!
(*) Note the average length of a relationship for a youngster under 14 seems to be about 3.2 seconds from what I gather!
These apps have been around for a while but aren't that widely used. Any smart kid tagged by his parents will just borrow his or her friend's untagged phone for any and all nefarious teenage activities.
Making everyone do this will just raise the resale value of legacy smart phones. I wonder how much this knee-jerk control-freak decision will cost the economy this time.
I also keep wondering when government surveillance freaks and big brother movements will self-implode but they keep coming back, like zombies. Seems like there is only one solution for this and it involves heads.
Tracking apps are toys for control-freak parents, not really good for much else. If you were really that worried about a teenager run amuck, you'd surgically implant a GPS tracker inside your kid's body. Nothing else will work for any length of time. Perhaps that will be in the next legislation? Can we take it out after we reach majority, please?
Regarding the sheriff-fooling app, I would recommend one that sends out just enough information to lull the parents into a false sense of security and then lets you progressively crank up the white noise factor whenever you decide to get jiggy with your mates. By the time the 'rents have read through all the traffic, the beer party will be over. That should be in version 2, though, and it will cost extra. Encrypted or stenographic SMS client anyone, for version 3?
But to be honest, I too am conflicted, if my teenage daughter was hanging out with some low-life, I would like to know where and when, maybe. But I would prefer to talk about it with her first.
"These apps have been around for a while but aren't that widely used. Any smart kid tagged by his parents will just borrow his or her friend's untagged phone for any and all nefarious teenage activities."
Tagging can also mean GEO-tagged, and a parent might just decide to CHECK on their kid by following the trace and seeing what's there. If the tag's there but their kid isn't, there's going to be some checking up.
And now with Android M and dm-verity checking, if they built this into a Marshmallow build and pushed it onto phones, that should chop the hacking and rooting right off since Marshmallow ROMs can detect root through dm-verity.
"either birds or high-ranking churchmen"
I saw a Korean bird wearing a red skirt slit to the waist with no undies the other night. She definitely wasn't a cardinal even if she was in the right colours.
If I'd taken up the offer and slept with her, would that be a carnal sin or a cardinal sin?
...this is a bad idea when in fact it's likely to save lives and prevent a lot of social issues with yoof not smart enough to make good choices. It's amazing how using tech for the betterment of society is viewed as wrong. This software should be mandatory and parents should be required to monitor their children's activity. Proper guidance is a requirement for responsible parenting. We see everyday the outcome from lack of or poor parenting skills. In many locales parents are legally responsible for the actions of their children, so they certainly should know what the children are up to. This software can be a very useful tool, especially in modern society when yoof have so many ways to be led astray.
"The app, however, effectively allows parents "to monitor how long their kids use their smartphones, how many times they use apps and which websites they visit."
So, just like ScreenTime that I have on my 9 year old's tablet and Samsung Young smartphone? This lets me control what and when she accesses any aspect of her devices.
It's bloody brilliant.
Even if it did, that would only be useful if the parents also understood it. Since teenage slang is more or less defined by "whatever my parents don't understand", I think we can assume that this whole proposal will achieve nothing except make some local politician look like they are tackling the problem.
South Korea is still very much a totalitarian state, though well disguised. Its not so many years ago that it was regarded in the same category as North Korea, Iraq and Iran (and a few others) as a risk over nuclear / missile technology / chemical warfare proliferation. The chaps at the MOD and DTI (as it was then) used to be quite blunt in pointing out to us providers of "dual use" technology that BOTH Koreas were untrustable, deceptive military neo-fascist states. The South has softened a bit since, but it still holds a mindset which carries on from WWII. Don't forget the ruling elite of South Korea are descended mainly from families who sided with the Japanese during WWII, but unlike the Japanese were never called to account for what they did. That militaristic fascist mindset is still alive and well in the heads of the South Korean heirarchy. To them, the people are no more than sheep.
So we can all take our little opinions about privacy and go sit down in a corner. The rest of the world does not have to share our political ideals, follow our rules, or listen to our rants.
Privacy? What a western and modern concept, and one we are inconsistent and hypocritical about ourselves.
I mean isn't multiculturalism all about saying it's perfectly okay if those people do whatever they want over there, and it's wrong for us to have any negative opinions about it? How dare we criticise?
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