The Constitutional Court of South Korea announced on Thursday that they dismissed a request for a judgement that asked nine internet service providers (ISPs) to block access to 895 websites with server name indication (SNI). The decision came by unanimous consent, concluding three-and-a-half years of controversy over censorship.
According to a statement released by the constitutional court on October 26, the bench dismissed a petition from two internet users to review the government’s decision to implement SNI-based filtering across the Internet in Korea, specifically whether this action violates fundamental constitutional guarantees protecting the rights of Korean citizens to freedom of expression and freedom of information.
The claims were filed on February 2019 when the Korea Communications Standards Commission called for the correction of nine ISPs, requiring them to block access to 895 websites that distribute illegal content. The commission followed a government decision which chose to use SNI-based filtering in order to shut off entrance to illicit websites that were communicated through the secure protocol “https.”
The South Korean government has sought measures to keep users away from unlawful online content despite concerns over internet censorship. Prior to SNI-based filtering, the communication authority urged ISPs to adopt Uniform Resource Locator (URL) based filtering when blocking access to illegal websites. SNI-based filtering provoked particularly intense controversy across the nation and some parts of the world because the technology enables authorities to pinpoint and identify individual users who have accessed illegal websites.
“The purpose of the correction order is legitimate, which is simply this: to cultivate a healthy internet culture in Korea,” expressed the court through its statement. “Security protocols are commonplace now, so it has become difficult for the government to block access to illegal websites using prior measures. In addition, online content is duplicatable and scalable, making post-measures ineffective. Using SNI to block access to illegal websites in security protocols is considered appropriate,” explained the court.
