A few days ago, the Criminal Investigation Bureau’s Ninth Investigation Corps cracked a fraud case in which the alleged perpetrators used fake accounts to lure members of the public and then altered the status of the account to continue their marketing fraud.
Some of the fraudulent offers were NT$500 gasoline coupons, NT$500 Father’s Day gift coupons and steak house gift coupons for five people.
Although at first the victims only felt that they had been diddled, it was all about using Internet marketing companies to collect their personal information by first using fake accounts and illegally using company logos to gain people’s trust. After getting their information, the perpetrators resold it to customers who needed it.
In addition to contravening the Trademark Act (商標法), the illegal use of logos also resulted in fake news spreading all over the place. The apprehension of these users hiding behind fake Internet accounts is welcomed by the public, and also has the effect of fixing “broken windows” in line with the broken windows theory, thereby deterring the spread of fake news online.
Fake accounts and fake news do not only create problems for you and me; they can also destabilize democracy. For example, fake news created by fake accounts had an effect on the UK’s Brexit vote and the US’ 2016 presidential election. This is a by-product of the shortcomings of cross-border governance in the information era.
Due to the cross-border nature of the Internet and the convergence of the telecommunications, broadcasting, multimedia and information and communication technology industries, the UN World Summit on the Information Society has said that, in addition to privacy and data protection, fake news and false online information are becoming a new information security topic.
At a forum discussing Internet governance, representatives of many of the participating nations called for cross-sector cooperation: national governments, civic society and community groups working together to create specifications, rules and procedures regulating online usage.
On Aug. 21, Facebook announced that it had removed 652 accounts with ties to Russia and Iran trying to influence the US’ midterm elections and attempting to exert global political influence. On the same day, Twitter announced the removal of 284 accounts for “engaging in coordinated manipulation.” This makes it clear that the fight against fake news is focused on fake accounts.
The fight against fake online news is now an important strategy in global governance. Regardless of whether it is the US government working with information software and social media businesses to establish control mechanisms or the digital communications act that Germany is studying, the goal is to find ways to prevent the harm caused by fake accounts and information.
However, establishing a system capable of differentiating between true and false will involve press freedom and freedom of expression, both of which are core democratic values.
This means that the questions of how to establish ways to facilitate public participation and consultation, using an open data platform for government data, and building a self-managing Internet control system and how to connect that to a renewal of private information protection, communications secrecy, intellectual property rights protection and consumer protection legislation will be the next challenge for countries as they try to protect the legal interests of individuals, society and their nations.
Lin Shu-li is a doctoral student at Central Police University.
Translated by Julian Clegg and Perry Svensson
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