South Korea bans Selfie sticks, could bring jail time or fine in South Korea
8 replies, posted
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[QUOTE]The focus of the ministerial crackdown are those models that come with bluetooth technology, allowing the user to release the smartphone shutter remotely, rather than using a timer.The problem, the ministry says, is that such units are designated as communications equipment given their use of radio waves to provide a wireless link between separate devices.
As such they have to be tested and certified to ensure they don’t pose a disruption to other devices using the same radio frequency.
Ministry officials admit the crackdown is basically motivated by a technicality, given that the weak, short-range signals emitted by bluetooth devices are hardly likely to bring down a plane or interfere with police frequencies.
“It’s not going to affect anything in any meaningful way, but it is nonetheless a telecommunication device subject to regulation, and that means we are obligated to crack down on uncertified ones,” an official at the ministry’s Central Radio Management Office told AFP.
Despite the harsh penalty on offer, the “crackdown” appears to have been relatively low-key, with no mass police raids on unsuspecting selfie stick vendors.
“The announcement last Friday was really just to let people know that they need to be careful about what they sell,” said the official, who declined to be identified.
“We’ve had a lot of calls from vendors who think they might have been unknowingly selling uncertified products,” he added.
South Korea is, in many ways, a highly regulated society, and people are generally used to a pervasive requirement for registration and certification.
Patrons of the country’s many Starbucks outlets, however, protested loudly recently when it emerged that the personal data they must provide to link to the in-store wi-fi was not required of foreigners.
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[url]http://www.news.com.au/travel/travel-updates/selfie-sticks-could-bring-jail-time-in-south-korea/story-e6frfq80-1227141015303[/url]
I'd be too paranoid about my phone slipping out to use one of those.
So what exactly is the difference to other Bluetooth devices?
Are there just a lot of uncertified selfie sticks or...?
[quote]As such they have to be tested and certified to ensure they don’t pose a disruption to other devices using the same radio frequency.
Ministry officials admit the crackdown is basically motivated by a technicality, given that the weak, short-range signals emitted by bluetooth devices are hardly likely to bring down a plane or interfere with police frequencies.[/quote]
Fair enough, they likely won't get banned but they have to go through the motions, plus shit like this has a chance to interact with pacemakers and shit.
[QUOTE]Despite the harsh penalty on offer, the “crackdown” appears to have been relatively low-key, with no mass police raids on unsuspecting selfie stick vendors.[/QUOTE]
This part just sounds hillarious to me, makes it sound like they were drugs or something extremely illegal. :v:
South Korea has really dense cities, of course they're going to ensure these devices aren't using all the spectrum.
Just use a timer until they get all the paperwork through and legalize it.
thought they were banning them because people were using them to take upskirt pictures, not because of some stupid technicality
It makes sense. Ever been to an R/C Plane gathering and see everyone's antennas with their freq on it? If you tuned into someone else's who was flying you'd get your ass wooped back in the day.
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