hankyoreh

two children play in a “Seoul-city style kindergarten” under an IPTV camera. One mother stands outside and fumes

Ms. Bae, 39, was shocked when in April she stopped by the Guro District Kindergarten to which she entrusted her children, a 3-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter. The cause of Bae’s shock was her discovery of a CCTV installed in each room the children were in, with the video feed broadcast on the Internet via IPTV. The fact that her children’s lives were being broadcast in real time was shocking enough itself. The teachers and students’ names, faces and conversations were being exposed as is, but moreover, all of this had been implemented without notifying or requesting permission from the parents.

“It was outrageous,” said Bae.

The Kindergarten IPTV Project, which Seoul Metropolitan Government has been promoting for “Seoul-style kindergartens” since April, has caused a human rights controversy. In particular, Seoul City sent out a notice to ward offices in November that the installation of IPTV would be reflected in the 2010 incentive budgets. The notices drew criticism from civic groups, who stated that the city was virtually forcing the project on them. This project allows parents to see their children by clicking on to the kindergarten homepage for about 5,000 Won ($3.97) per month.

Human rights groups, however, have called this project a clear violation of human rights.

“It was clearly illegal to push the project without obtaining the consent of the parents,” said activist Jang Yeo-kyung of the Progressive Network Center.

Current laws call for IT service providers to obtain the consent of concerned parties when collecting and using personal information. Teachers gave their formal consent, but human rights groups claim that due to their employment situation, teachers have no choice but to consent.

The Progressive Network Center and Seoul branch of the minor opposition New Progressive Party (NPP) held a press conference in front of the Guro District ward office Wednesday morning in which they called for the kindergarten IPTV installations to be immediately suspended and IPTV equipment removed from places where it has already been installed. Together with Guro District schools and parents, they demanded the new ward chief end the project.

They also said the process implemented SK Broadband, which has virtually monopolized the project, was not transparent, and plan to file for an audit and civil lawsuit within the month.

“The company offered to handle all the IPTV installations, so the project was entrusted to them,” said Seoul City. “A number parents want to send their children to kindergartens, and the real-time videos were taken only from two-hour periods, such as snack time, so there was really nothing that took place that could be considered a human rights violation.”

There are currently about 2,300 Seoul-style kindergartens. Of these, about 500 have IPTV installed.

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