Technology

Prying Parents: Phone Monitoring Apps Flourish in S. Korea

Published

11 years ago

May 15, 2015

A promotional banner of mobile apps that block harmful contents, is posted on the door at a mobile store in Seoul, South Korea, Friday, May 15, 2015. The banner reads: “Young smartphone users, you must install apps that block harmful content.” (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Youkyung Lee, ASSOCIATED PRESS

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Lee Chang-june can be miles from his 12-year-old son but still know when he plays a smartphone game. With the press of an app he can see his son’s phone activity, disable apps or totally shut down the smartphone.

The app, “Smart Sheriff,” was funded by the South Korean government primarily to block access to pornography and other offensive content online. But its features go well beyond that.

Smart Sheriff and at least 14 other apps allow parents to monitor how long their kids use their smartphones, how many times they use apps and which websites they visit. Some send a child’s location data to parents and issue an alert when a child searches keywords such as “suicide,” ”pregnancy” and “bully” or receives messages with those words.

In South Korea, the apps have been downloaded at least 480,000 times.

The number will likely go up. Last month, South Korea’s Korea Communications Commission, which has sweeping powers covering the telecommunications industry, required telecoms companies and parents to ensure Smart Sheriff or one of the other monitoring apps is installed when anyone aged 18 years or under gets a new smartphone. The measure doesn’t apply to old smartphones but most schools sent out letters to parents encouraging them to install the software anyway.

Many countries have safety filtering tools for the Internet but it is rare to enforce them by law. Japan enacted a law in 2009 but unlike South Korea it allows parents to opt out.

South Korea’s new system is by no means impervious. For one, it can only be fully applied to Android phones not Apple Inc. phones. But cybersecurity experts and Internet advocacy groups argue the monitoring infringes too far on privacy and free speech. Some warn it will produce a generation inured to intrusive surveillance.

“It is the same as installing a surveillance camera in teenagers’ smartphones,” said Kim Kha Yeun, a general counsel at Open Net Korea, a nonprofit organization that is appealing the regulator’s ordinance to South Korea’s Constitutional Court. “We are going to raise people who are accustomed to surveillance.”

South Korea, one of the Asia’s richest nations, is crisscrossed by cheap fast Internet and smartphone use is ubiquitous. Many Koreans get their first smartphone when they are young. Eight out of 10 South Koreans aged 18 and below own a smartphone, according to government data. Some 72 percent of elementary school students owned a smartphone in 2013, a jump from 20 percent in 2011.

How technology is affecting the young has become a national obsession. The government and parent groups have pushed numerous initiatives to limit device and Internet use as well as prevent excessive gaming. Many parents welcome the ability to peer inside their children’s online world.

Lee, who worked in the online game industry for nearly a decade, said that having a control over his son’s smartphone has been positive and increased dialogue in the family. His son plays a mobile game about two hours on weekends. If he wants to play a mobile game outside those hours, he comes up to dad and talks about why.

“What is important is that parents and children talk to each other and try to build consensus. He is only in a sixth grade but he wants to have his privacy,” Lee said. “I told him: We are installing this and father will know which app you use,” he said. “I see it as positive in helping nurture his habit of self-control.”

Legal experts, however, say South Korea’s telecoms regulator has taken the sweeping step of legalizing the broad collection of personal, sensitive data that belongs to teenagers without any public consultation or consideration of the possible consequences.

“South Korea underestimated the chilling effect,” said Kang Jeong-Soo, director at Institute for the Digital Society.

Cyber security experts also warn that the apps could be misused and installed on phones without the owner’s knowledge.

“It could be an official spying app,” said Ryu Jong-myeong, CEO of SoTIS, a cyber security company.

To get around the regulations, some students say they will wait until they turn 19 to get a new phone.

“I’d rather not buy a phone,” said Paik Hyunsuk, 17. “It’s violation of students’ privacy and oppressing freedom.”

Cho Jaehyun, a senior year high school student, had to install a parental control app when he was in middle school. But he said he was lucky that his parents agreed to uninstall the app when he entered high school.

“We don’t always use the smartphone for something bad,” said Cho, 17. “Because I could use my phone freely without control, I got interested in developing iPhone games.”

Not all parents are on board either.

Park Choel-hee, father of a 10-year-old daughter, said South Korea resorts too much to regulation and makes “senseless” choices about what content is offensive.

“A few officials arbitrarily determine which websites are harmful and unilaterally shut them off. They rob the rights of Internet users. It is no different from the Great Fire Wall of China.”

Park, who gave his daughter his second phone so she didn’t have to release her personal information to mobile carriers, said he feels “uncomfortable” that his child is growing up in a society of prying eyes.

“Children will not have an ability to think for themselves,” he said.

___

Follow Youkyung Lee: http://www.twitter.com/YKLeeAP.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

###

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Education

Gov. Newsom’s Latest Appointees Include Sacramento Advocate for Formerly Incarcerated Students; State’s New Tech Chief

Ayushi Roy, of San Francisco, was appointed state chief technology officer at the California Department of Technology. Roy has taught at Harvard Kennedy School since 2022 and previously held technology and policy roles with New America, the U.S. General Services Administration, and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget

Published

2 weeks ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

By Bo Tefu, California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced eight appointments Aug. 19, including a new state chief technology officer and the reappointment of a Sacramento State outreach coordinator who works with formerly incarcerated students.

Roy’s policy work has focused on the gap between government programs and the people they are intended to serve. In a Harvard course inspired by Beyoncé’s “Cowboy Carter,” she teaches students to examine how administrative and implementation barriers can undermine social safety-net programs.

“I do know as a practitioner, having served in the government for over a dozen years, that the building of technology is the easy part; managing the political feasibility and the implementation is the hard part,” Roy said.

Roy’s appointment requires Senate confirmation and carries compensation of $214,692.

Newsom also reappointed Michael Love, of Sacramento, to the State Rehabilitation Council, where he has served since 2025. Love has been an outreach coordinator at California State University, Sacramento since 2024 and previously held several roles at the university, including administrative services coordinator for Project Rebound and teacher’s associate.

Project Rebound supports formerly incarcerated students as they pursue higher education, making Love’s appointment relevant to the council’s work involving vocational rehabilitation services.

Love earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in communication studies from Sacramento State. He is a Democrat.

Newsom also appointed Eric De La Cruz of Sacramento as executive director of the Racial Equity Commission. De La Cruz has served as chief of the Office of Civil Rights at the Department of Toxic Substances Control since 2022. The position pays $146,220 and does not require Senate confirmation.

The governor additionally appointed Christine Aurigemma to the State Rehabilitation Council and reappointed Lisa Weiler, Michelle Bello and Matthew Asner. The council positions are unpaid and do not require Senate confirmation.

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Black History

George Cook: The Inventor Who Made Fishing Smarter

Published

1 month ago

August 9, 2026

Post News Group

A copy of the patent for George Cook’s Automatic Fishing Device. Public domain.

By Tamara Shiloh

George Cook was a Black American inventor from Louisville, Kentucky. He was born in 1863, during a time when Black Americans faced unfair laws, limited opportunities, and many barriers to education, jobs, and recognition. Even with these challenges, he became known for his intelligence, honesty, and ability to think in practical ways. Some records say he worked as a cook for Buffalo Bill Cody and later as a chef on a private dining car for the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. He was even known by the nickname “Honest Mister Cook.”

As with many Black American inventors and scientists of that era, there is little biographical information about Mr. Cook.

Cook’s most famous invention was the Automatic Fishing Device. He received U.S. Patent No. 625,829 for it on May 30, 1899. His patent shows that he was not just someone with an idea, but someone who made it happen.

So, what did the Automatic Fishing Device do? Imagine fishing with a line in the water. Usually, you have to watch carefully and pull the line at just the right moment when a fish bites. Cook wanted to make that process easier. His device was designed to react when a fish pulled on the line. The tension from the fish would trigger a lever. That lever would release a spring-loaded part of the device, causing it to move quickly and help pull in the line. The device also had an alarm gong that would ring to let the fisher know something was happening.

This invention was important because it used simple mechanical ideas in a clever way. Springs, levers, rails, and alarms were not new by themselves, but Cook combined them to solve a real problem. His device showed how inventors often take familiar parts and arrange them in a new way to make life easier.

Cook looked at fishing and asked, “How can this be improved?” Then, he created a device that could respond automatically when a fish tugged on the line. His invention let fishermen relax instead of watching the line for hours, trusting the alarm to alert them.

Cook may not be as famous as some inventors, but his Automatic Fishing Device shows that creativity and innovation can be applied anywhere. His legacy lives on as part of the larger story of Black innovation in America.

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Environment

“The Power to See Threats Sooner”: Gov. Newsom, Safety Officials Showcase California’s Investments in Hi-Tech Wildfire Prevention

On July 21, Gov. Gavin Newsom held a presentation in Sacramento, alongside state emergency officials, to showcase California’s major investments in cutting-edge firefighting technology and wildfire prevention. The media event took place at McClellan Airport in Sacramento County,

Published

1 month ago

August 9, 2026

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Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during a July 21 presentation at McClellan Park highlighting California’s investments in advanced firefighting technology and wildfire prevention tools. CBM photo by Antonio Ray Harvey.

By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media

The media event took place at McClellan Airport in Sacramento County, a primary hub for state aerial firefighting operations. Newsom used the presentation to highlight the state’s modern, tech-driven strategy to combat increasingly severe wildfires.

“California leads with science, innovation, and grit. We are meeting this moment with urgency and building 21st-century solutions for a 21st-century crisis,” Newsom stated. “And through it all, our extraordinary firefighters continue to step up, stand in harm’s way, and protect our communities.”

California Natural Resources Agency Secretary Wade Crowfoot, CAL FIRE Chief Joe Tyler, and California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services Director Caroline Thomas Jacobs appeared with Newsom and provided updates about their respective agencies.

Under the Newsom administration, California’s fire protection budget has nearly doubled since 2019 — from $2 billion to $3.8 billion, including more than $2.5 billion in wildfire resilience and forest health projects.

Newsom detailed the expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) programs, predictive analytics, and sophisticated software used to detect fires at their earliest stages. He also highlighted the launch of FireSat satellites, a dedicated space network designed to dramatically improve early wildfire detection and tracking.

“Every innovation we adopt supports our people on the front lines who work tirelessly to protect our communities when wildfire strikes,” Tyler stated. “Technology and innovation help us do our jobs more quickly and safely; however, we still need all Californians to stay vigilant, support our firefighters, and work together to build a safer, more resilient California.”

In addition, CAL Fire showcased a fleet of more than 100 AI-guided firefighting drones positioned strategically across California to provide real-time mapping and aerial monitoring.

The presentation stated that California operates the nation’s largest state-owned aerial firefighting fleet, including the impending addition of two more C-130 aircraft by the end of the year, alongside a workforce of over 11,000 personnel.

“Technology is transforming how California prepares for wildfire, giving us the power to see threats sooner, position resources before fires start and move mutual aid faster when every second counts,” Thomas Jacobs said. “Governor Newsom’s investments are helping us turn real-time intelligence into action, so firefighters and local communities have the people, equipment and information needed to save lives and keep fires from becoming major disasters.”