Korea issues first AI ethics checklist; The Korea Times, June 14, 2023

Lee Kyung-min, The Korea Times; Korea issues first AI ethics checklist

"The government has outlined the first national standard on how to use artificial intelligence (AI) ethically, in a move to bolster the emerging industry's sustainability and enhance its global presence, the industry ministry said Wednesday.

Korea Agency for Technology and Standards (KATS), an organization affiliated with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, issued a checklist of possible ethical issues and reviewed factors to be referenced and considered by service developers, providers and users.

The considerations specified for report and review include ethical issues arising in the process of collecting and processing data, the designing and development of AI, and the provision of such services to customers. 

The guidelines contain considerations such as transparency, fairness, harmlessness, responsibility, privacy protection, convenience, autonomy, reliability, sustainability and solidarity-enhancing qualities."

Trade Secret Protection Blocks Sick Samsung Workers From Data; Claims Journal, 8/12/16

Youkyung Lee, Claims Journal; Trade Secret Protection Blocks Sick Samsung Workers From Data:

"An Associated Press investigation has found South Korean authorities have, at Samsung’s request, repeatedly withheld from workers and their bereaved families crucial information about chemicals they were exposed to at its computer chip and liquid crystal display factories. Sick workers are supposed to have access to such data through the government or the courts so they can apply for workers’ compensation from the state. Without it, government officials commonly reject their cases.

The justification for withholding the information? In at least six cases involving 10 workers, it was trade secrets. Court documents and interviews with government officials, workers’ lawyers and their families show Samsung often cites the need to protect trade secrets when it asks government officials not to release such data.

“Our fight is often against trade secrets. Any contents that may not work in Samsung’s favor were deleted as trade secrets,” said Lim Ja-woon, a lawyer who has represented 15 sick Samsung workers."

South Korea Is Contending With A 'Gamergate' Of Its Own — Over A T-Shirt; All Tech Considered, NPR, 7/29/16

Mark H. Kim, All Tech Considered, NPR; South Korea Is Contending With A 'Gamergate' Of Its Own — Over A T-Shirt:

"An online controversy over a South Korean voice actress's tweeted image of a T-shirt has escalated into what is now being called East Asia's version of Gamergate — a reference to the vitriolic controversy that pitted gamers, largely men, against women in tech."

US colleges cut ties with scholarships that ban HIV-positive applicants; Guardian, 5/21/16

John Power, Guardian; US colleges cut ties with scholarships that ban HIV-positive applicants:

"Wagner expressed concern that HIV-positive applicants unaware of their status could be subject to harassment and discrimination if outed in the country, where the virus is heavily stigmatized.

“The nightmare scenario that I want to see avoided is what I saw happen to a student I represented in 2009 who was outed as HIV positive in an extremely hostile manner,” he said. “He was threatened with expulsion from the university, told his status would be disclosed to faculty and pressured to leave the country.

In South Korea, HIV/Aids is often associated with prostitution, homosexuality and drug use, all of which are widely seen as morally degenerate. The country tests certain foreigners for the virus, despite the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination ruling the policy to be discriminatory last year. South Korea has defended its policy as necessary to protect public health.

Apart from American colleges, the scholarships are also being advertised by universities in Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Spain, Greece and Poland, and on the official website of the government of Canada."