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Asking to remain anonymous, an individual posted the following on an Internet portal’s online bulletin board: "When I search my name on an Internet portal, an article regarding a robbery I committed a long time ago comes up. I am concerned over the possibility that my child may find out about my crime one day by searching my name on the Internet. I was already cleared of the crime, so please delete the article."

Another posted the following: "In 2002, I was arrested on charges of illegally selling goods via a marketing company, but was then released. However, when I search my name, articles regarding the arrest continuously surface, making it difficult for me to perform as a singer. Is there any way to delete the articles?"

A new kind of media damage is emerging in the Internet era, namely the ‘digitalization of information’ and its subsequent distribution, without any gatekeeping procedure in place to ensure that items are properly updated or purged.

While the Internet allows people to easily find information through a one-click search, it enables people to find damaging information, and in many cases only part of the story. The fact that search capability is becoming more powerful only adds to the woes of those named in such articles.

Though an incident is reported by a newspaper, the incident may slip from people’s memory after a certain amount of time goes by. In addition, in the past, people needed to make quite an effort to access old news reports, by going to the library and searching through microfilms or rooting through old newspaper files. However, the Internet makes it quick and easy to access newspaper reports from any period, and damage to individuals either named in or referred to in such articles persists.

In case of a criminal who is given a pardon for his or her crime, the public records of the crime will be deleted. Not so the newspaper reports that linger on the Internet, waiting to be searched and brought forth again.

"A law requires a criminal’s records to be abolished if a certain time goes by," said lawyer Kim Hyeong-tae. "From the humanitarian point of view, it’s problematic, because newspaper reports on the Internet are posing a heavy burden on the former criminal. The problem should be resolved in a reasonable manner," Kim said.

Proving just as problematic are media reports that remain on the Internet without reflecting changes in the situation.

When covering a conventional crime story, the media have a tendency of focusing less on whether the person is eventually found innocent or guilty than on the initial hubbub surrounding the crime. Especially if the person is not famous, their release without charge or acquittal on appeal might never make the papers. In this case, articles regarding the initial arrest or guilty ruling by a lower court might be the only item searchable on Internet portals.

Compounding the problem is the fact that newspapers or broadcasters bear no responsibility to publicize the final outcome of the story, as they have the right to choose whether to run a story or not.

Such digital-age damages are amplified by the structure of Internet portals themselves. Portals distribute articles and allow bloggers or online bulletin board users to copy and paste the articles in other locations. If a media company’s article becomes a problem, the article could be corrected or deleted, but it is nearly impossible to get rid of the article when it has been posted on a number of Internet blogs or bulletin boards, as these are managed by individuals and not the portal companies.

Internet portals are setting up countermeasures to combat the problem. Daum has established a center for people to complain about rights infringement, and Naver has launched a new service that allows a user to ask it to stop posting an article. Another portal, Nate, has formed a committee to promote user responsibility.

But Internet observers and portal employees say these countermeasures will likely be as effective as a ‘medicine prescription after death.’

Lee Gyeong-ryul, a spokesman at Naver, said, "We are just a company that distributes articles. We can’t modify and delete articles by ourselves because of contracts with media companies that provide the articles."

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