The Korean developers of smartphone apps that allows parents to monitor their children’s’ cell phone activity are facing criticism days after news of the new “child-safe” software was widely reported upon in the Korean and international press.
The latest app is called Smart Sherriff and is intended to provide alerts to parents of children with Internet-enabled smart devices, but a range of similar apps are also becoming widely available, such as Smart Relief.
Smart Sherriff has received government support and funding, and notifies parents should their children search for key terms that include: “suicide”, “pornography”, “pregnancy”, “terrorism” and even “girl/boy whom I like”.
Critics have been quick to point out the possible dangers of these new applications, as well as the fact that they may face a range of legal challenges in the months ahead. This is despite the fact that almost 500,000 such applications have already been downloaded in Korea. Under a ruling last month by the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), parents may soon become legally required to install applications on smart devices used by their children.
Speaking to the media, a director at Institute for the Digital Society said the Korean government was “underestimating” the “chilling effects” that such monitoring apps could have.
Open Net Korea, a digital pressure group, has already lodged an appeal to at Korea’s constitutional court, aimed at overturning the KCC’s ruling.
Kim Kha-yeun, a general counsel at Open Net Korea, told the Associated Press, “It is the same as installing a surveillance camera in teenagers’ smartphones. We are going to raise people who are accustomed to surveillance.”
Cyber security experts also told the media that Smart Sherriff, Smart Relief and the like could be used as “official spy apps,” and expressed concern about how data about children’s smartphone usage could be used by those whose charge it is to monitor such data.
Web users around the world have waded in on the discussion, with one user commenting, “If you really feel the need to watch your kids at every turn, you are only setting them up to fail when you're not there.”
Some of the other terms monitored by Smart Sherriff and similar applications include keywords the likes of: “plastic surgery”, “appearance”, “fat, “French kiss”, “menstruation”, “adoption”, “divorce”, “rape”, “homosexuality”, “single parent”, “IS” and “poison”.
The Korean government has already enlisted the compliance of all three major carriers (SK Telecom, KT and LGU+) in a range of campaigns aimed at protecting younger users from potentially harmful content.
Among other smartphone apps developed as part of this initiative are apps that block pornography and other potentially damaging or offensive content and public service campaigns aimed at raising awareness of such software.
By Oh hae-young
