The Korea Communications Commission announced yesterday that it plans to make it easier for foreigners to sign-up for and use Korean websites, often off-limits heretofore because of our incompatable alien registration numbers.
The problem is not with the government or the number scheme they set up; it's that so many companies' websites use a logarithm that kicks out any number that doesn't fit a finite list or logarithm of lists. The only way to change that is for the company to change how their website is set up. Some will, but many won't.
The government needs to put some teeth into this, like penalizing companies that don't make the change. The rationale for this may be that (I think) the systemic denial of non-citizens is a violation of ROK laws.
Unless there's a penalty or some group (like ATEK?) that persists in fixing this program, by going after companies one by one if they don't comply, nothing will change.
But there is some indifference and a whole lot of ignorance on this: many companies don't realize that they are spitting out the 13-digit IDs of foreign residents because it was well publicized that foreigner registration IDs were being changed to conform to a new system precisely so that this kind of thing wouldn't be a problem (but only if the companies adopted the new set of numbers, which many did not).
Korean website designers are in their own little bubble: conform to the ROK norm or you're left out in the cold. No Korean national ID? Not using Internet Explorer? Can't read HWP? Tough sh¡t, because that's what everyone in Korea does/uses.
"The only way to change that is for the company to change how their website is set up. Some will, but many won't."
--The gov't need only make it a law that companies change their coding to accept the foreign ID numbers. Any company that doesn't should immediately reported to Korea's "BBB" (http://english.cpb.or.kr/)
Any time in the past I've needed to file with the KCPB, they got the problem resolved VERY quickly and quite satisfactorily. Makes me wonder what kind of teeth they have to threaten with that gets companies to cave so quickly.
Needless to say, I'll believe it when I see the results. This is the fourth(?) time I remember the gov't promising this. I don't exactly have faith that they will actually do anything this time, either.
5 comments:
Thank god.
This has been promised for five years now. I'll wait until I see the results...
Oh, is the government planning to do that again?
The problem is not with the government or the number scheme they set up; it's that so many companies' websites use a logarithm that kicks out any number that doesn't fit a finite list or logarithm of lists. The only way to change that is for the company to change how their website is set up. Some will, but many won't.
The government needs to put some teeth into this, like penalizing companies that don't make the change. The rationale for this may be that (I think) the systemic denial of non-citizens is a violation of ROK laws.
Unless there's a penalty or some group (like ATEK?) that persists in fixing this program, by going after companies one by one if they don't comply, nothing will change.
But there is some indifference and a whole lot of ignorance on this: many companies don't realize that they are spitting out the 13-digit IDs of foreign residents because it was well publicized that foreigner registration IDs were being changed to conform to a new system precisely so that this kind of thing wouldn't be a problem (but only if the companies adopted the new set of numbers, which many did not).
Korean website designers are in their own little bubble: conform to the ROK norm or you're left out in the cold. No Korean national ID? Not using Internet Explorer? Can't read HWP? Tough sh¡t, because that's what everyone in Korea does/uses.
"The only way to change that is for the company to change how their website is set up. Some will, but many won't."
--The gov't need only make it a law that companies change their coding to accept the foreign ID numbers. Any company that doesn't should immediately reported to Korea's "BBB" (http://english.cpb.or.kr/)
Any time in the past I've needed to file with the KCPB, they got the problem resolved VERY quickly and quite satisfactorily. Makes me wonder what kind of teeth they have to threaten with that gets companies to cave so quickly.
Needless to say, I'll believe it when I see the results. This is the fourth(?) time I remember the gov't promising this. I don't exactly have faith that they will actually do anything this time, either.
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