South Korea Releases Metaverse Ethics

The metaverse still contains unsolved nodes. Let alone this situation, not only companies, even countries are making certain preparations and studies for the metaverse. At the forefront of these countries is South Korea, the homeland of many technology giants, which first comes to mind when technology is mentioned. South Korea is one of the only countries that closely follows the metaverse world and wants to be a part of it. As an indication of this, the Ministry of Information and Communication Technologies of the country held a new meeting. At the ministerial level meeting, a guide of core ethical principles was published for metaverse application participants that included users and developers.

South Korea’s Ministry of Science and Information and Communication Technologies met at the ministerial level last Monday. According to the news in Forkast, the guidelines prepared by the ministry are based on three basic values. They are listed as follows:

• Real identity
• Safe experience
• Sustainable welfare

Guidelines shaped on these core values also have eight separate supporting principles. These:

• Originality
• Autonomy
• Reciprocity
• Respect for privacy
• Justice
• Data protection
• Inclusivity
• responsibility for the future

Of course, it should be said that the guidelines are not legally binding. However, his ministry’s goal is to encourage metaverse participants to adopt them. Therefore, to contribute to creating a more ‘clean’ metaverse world. According to the ministry, one of the problems in the metaverse is that young people can easily access inappropriate content. In fact, these ethical guidelines are also a step to prevent this problem.

Cases where minors were involved in harassment on metaverses were previously reported in South Korea. Lawmakers have also proposed different amendments to existing laws on sexual crimes to cover harassment between virtual avatars.