South Korea Attempts to Deal With the Dark Web
February 10, 2020
In a column for the Diplomat Magazone, KEI Senior Director Troy Stangarone explored South Korea's efforts to discipline the dark web – an encrypted and anonymized network inaccessible by ordinary internet users.
In particular, Stangarone focused on efforts by international law enforcement to curb child pornography trafficking on these underground networks. Monitoring for illegal uploads are particularly challenging for Korea because internet penetration is higher here than other countries. Moreover, while South Korea’s penalties for the production of child pornography are in line with international standards, the penalties for possession are not. As a result, criminal activities around child pornogrpahy tend to rely on Korean servers.
Stangarone does note that:
"To address these challenges South Korea is boosting investigations into the dark web. Previously, investigations on the dark web were limited to a six-member team at the National Police Agency. Investigations will now be handled in by the National Police Agency in conjunction with regional police authorities to increase investigative capacity, though largely focused on child pornography."
Read the full article here