Anti-spam solution is a fine

As text and voice spam continued to pour out several times a day, the National Assembly decided to come up with a strong punishment system. As it is pointed out that the current law does not prevent illegal spam sending, the National Assembly is pushing for a bill to impose a fine of up to three times the profit on spammers.

According to the "Status of Spam Distribution in the First Half of 2025" released by the Korea Media and Communications Commission and the Korea Internet & Security Agency (KISA) on Monday, the average number of text, voice and e-mail spam calls per person per month is 7.91. This is followed by text spam of 3.04, e-mail spam of 2.74 and voice spam of 2.13. In other words, most Koreans live in an environment where they are exposed to spam twice a week.

Spam reception has become a social problem, leading to personal information leakage, voice phishing, and financial fraud beyond simple inconveniences. According to data from the National Statistical Office, the number of voice phishing crimes that occurred between January and July this year was 14,700, with the amount of damage exceeding 770 billion won. This is an increase of more than 25% compared to the same period last year.

Currently, illegal spam messages are mainly distributed through text resellers specializing in sending large quantities of text messages. Under the current law, the operator can easily register due to low barriers to entry. In addition, the level of punishment by the government against them is low, and spam problems are repeated.

In fact, if spam is transmitted without prior consent from the recipient, a fine of up to 30 million won will only be imposed on the spam sender. Even if you avoid or interfere with the refusal to receive or withdrawal of consent to receive, you will be sentenced to up to one year in prison or fined up to 10 million won.

Choi Min-hee, chairman of the National Assembly's Science, Technology, Information, Broadcasting and Communications Committee, proposed a bill that would allow text resellers who send illegal spam to be fined up to three times the profits earned from violations.

"Illegal spam is a problem that seriously violates the daily lives and personal information of the people, and we can no longer neglect it," Chairman Choi said. "We will do our best to eradicate illegal spam and protect the rights of the people through this bill."

The bill passed a subcommittee on the review of the science and defense information and communications broadcasting bill on Nov. 20 and was handed over to the science and defense general meeting.

The Ministry of Science and ICT said, "Recently, the issue of text resellers who condone illegal spam transmission for commercial purposes has been raised, and it is necessary to consider that the amendment mainly focuses on imposing fines on spam senders."

fun3503@chosunbiz.com