‘Digital Bill of Rights’ Eyed by South Korea in Attempt To Bring Order to the Untamed World of High-Tech, Including Rules for Artificial Intelligence

SEOUL — In an age of artificial intelligence, crypto-currency, and other high-tech puzzles, South Korea intends to get ahead of the game with an elaborate program for imposing rules and regulations in an area that might appear ungovernable if not out of control.Economists at the South’s ministry of science and technology have come up with what they call a “digital bill of rights” that they are offering as a template for the rest of the world to follow.“Deepening digitalization drives structural changes across the economy and society,” the document begins, citing “mega trends shaping digital transformation” beginning with “all-around expansion of platforms.”If the concept of a bill of rights seems more aspirational than actual, the science vice minister, Park Yun-kyu, is dead serious about battling for acceptance of what may be the first high-level formal attempt by any government to instill order in a field that’s inspiring wonder, along with fear, everywhere.Likening the bill of rights to a national constitution with legal standing, Mr. Park said the goal is “to spearhead a digital society of mutual prosperity.” Within that framework the government will come up with actual laws — and promote the bill of rights at a UN forum here and among the 31 member nations of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.Mr. Park brushed off questions about whether other countries, competing madly for supremacy in everything to do with high-tech, would cooperate or even acknowledge the bill of rights as drafted by his ministry. The Korean proposal, he said, had evolved from conversations with foreign entities as well as Koreans with vast experience in high-tech issues.The language, though, is so high flown as to suggest an idealistic vision for the digital age rather than down-to-earth standards with which all countries, agencies, and companies will agree.“Establishment of a ‘new digital order’ is required so that the nation and overall society can accommodate structural changes of deepening digitalization,” it states, calling for “systematic establishment of an order through common standards and principles” since “the new order would affect a wide range of sectors of our society.”If the proposal for a digital “bill of rights” seems like a wish list, there’s no doubt that experts are concerned with what they see as wildly competing factions and interests.“The End of Cyber Anarchy: How to Build a New Digital Order Digital Disorder” is the headline of an article in Foreign Affairs by a professor emeritus at Harvard, Joseph Nye, who paints a dire picture.“Ransomware attacks, election interference, corporate espionage, threats to the electric grid: based on the drumbeat of current headlines, there seems to be little hope of bringing a measure of order to the anarchy of cyberspace,” Mr. Nye writes, warning of “grim implications not just for cyberspace itself but also for economies, geopolitics, democratic societies, and basic questions of war and peace.”A Korean official admitted privately that China will present problems. Nor is Russia expected to be much interested.“China, Russia, and various Middle Eastern governments are cultivating a new digital order across the pillars of information control, surveillance, and technology governance,” the technology and security director at the Center for a New American Security, Martijn Rasser, writes. “A closed, illiberal order is taking root in strategic regions around the world, as non-democratic governments exploit digital tools to grow both internal control and external influence,” he adds.To the South Koreans who drafted the bill, though, the argument for universal acceptance is irrefutable. “Where digital innovation is sought together,” they write, “benefits are shared fair and just.”

‘Digital Bill of Rights’ Eyed by South Korea in Attempt To Bring Order to the Untamed World of High-Tech, Including Rules for Artificial Intelligence

More from the New York Sun

Let Some Oil Tankers Sail Through the Strait of Hormuz — World Oil Prices Will Retreat Big Time

‘What Is Chabad Exactly?’

On Taxes in New York, It’s Mamdani v. Hochul

More from the New York Sun

Let Some Oil Tankers Sail Through the Strait of Hormuz — World Oil Prices Will Retreat Big Time

‘What Is Chabad Exactly?’

On Taxes in New York, It’s Mamdani v. Hochul

‘Hoppers’ is the Best Pixar Film of the Decade

Florida Senate Advances Bill To Let State Leaders Designate Groups as Terrorists After Federal Judge Blocks Effort by DeSantis

One Week In, Will Trump and Netanyahu Have Time To Finish Reshaping the Mideast and the World?

State Department Says Charter Flights Are Evacuating Hundreds of Americans Stranded in Middle East

Mayor Mamdani’s Wife Liked Posts Cheering on Hamas’s October 7 Massacre: Report