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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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 Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 3:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
| mises wrote: |
| No, at any point you have opinions from every corner of possible opinions in a market. That is what a market is (the aggregation and dissemination of information). |
Opinions are one thing. An accusation of lying is another. |
What's the principled difference here? If I accuse President Obama of lying about his stimulus plan, why on earth is that grounds for legal action or possibly incarceration by the government? |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2009 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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I think a better comparison of what the guy did:
Next year the government is going to deliberately release germs in the drinking water to cause a pandemic. When the government denies they will do this, you can be assured they are lying. |
Well, if you throw in some stuff about Monarch Mind Control Sex Slaves and chemtrails, and top it off with a few misplaced emoticons, then you've pretty much got a standard IGTG posting there. And those types of posters are all over the internet, generally regarded as little more than a nuisance.
Though I suppose we could argue about what difference exists between a) running through the Capitol building yelling FIRE when there is no fire, and b) putting something on a message board saying that the Trilateralists are planning to burn down the Capitol building next year. |
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On the other hand
Joined: 19 Apr 2003
Location: I walk along the avenue
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 10:34 am Post subject: |
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South Korean authorities are growing more serious over whether ― and how ― they're going to punish popular online guru Minerva after arresting him last Wednesday for spreading false information. But for foreigners and overseas bloggers, the Internet witch-hunt is a ridiculous episode that could only hurt the image of one of the world's most-wired countries.
``Korea is starting to look silly for trying to imprison a blogger,'' said Tom Coyner, who helps advise foreign investors in South Korea as president of Soft Landing Consulting. ``Authorities are taking this too far.''
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``You wouldn't see this kind of situation in the U.S. or any other advanced country,'' said Michael Breen, a political and business consultant, who stressed that both the prosecution and the government must learn to uphold people's rights.
He said if the authorities are smart, they will investigate and let Park go.
``If they're dumb, however, they're going to go ahead and prosecute him, but Park will be found not guilty,'' said Breen, adding that such an outcome will only do harm to the prosecution.
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I think it's possible to overstate just how free-wheeling the "marketplace of ideas" is in most western countries. I know France still has a law on the books against insulting the president, and the ever-shifting mandates of Canada's "hate laws" and human-rights commission are a source of controversy.
That said, the prosecution of Minerva does have a certain air of arbitrariness about it. One wonders whether he would have been arrested for publishing equally false items that portrayed the government in a good light.
http://tinyurl.com/72m5fl
Last edited by On the other hand on Sat Jan 17, 2009 11:05 am; edited 1 time in total |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Tue Jan 13, 2009 11:20 am Post subject: |
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| mises wrote: |
| I don't know anything about Korean securities laws as it pertains to that. But to the most loose extent possible, all voices need to be heard for a market to function properly. |
Yes, and in fact, Western Securities Law rests on the fundamental principle of 'sunlight is the best disinfectant.' IOW, Securities regulation seeks not to regulate the quality of a security, but merely make sure that all information that a prudent investor would consider important (and then some) is available to the investor. |
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Troll_Bait
Joined: 04 Jan 2006
Location: [T]eaching experience doesn't matter much. -Lee Young-chan (pictured)
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| Posted: Thu Jan 15, 2009 4:22 am Post subject: |
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| Ya-ta Boy wrote: |
The guy stated an opinion as a fact and when the government denied it, he said they were liars. His actions caused problems in the market.
It looks like there is at least room for a legal investigation. |
According to one lawmaker, he didn't lie.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/01/123_37654.html
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An opposition lawmaker argued Sunday that the government indeed asked local banks not to buy dollars in late 2008 as an arrested blogger known as ``Minerva,'' the Greek goddess of wisdom, claimed.
< cut >
``On Dec. 26, 2008, the Ministry of Strategy and Finance (MOSF) convened a meeting of representatives from the country's seven biggest banks (and they) were forced to attend,'' Rep. Lee Seok-hyun of the Democratic Party told The Korea Times.
``At the meeting, I learned that banks were requested not to buy dollars, just as Park had contended. I confirmed it with multiple attendants. Accordingly, Park is not guilty,'' the fourth-term legislator said.
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``I am not sure whether the MOSF sent a letter to banks but I believe the ministry held a meeting related to the exchange rate,'' Lee said. ``Park is not lying, the government is.''
When contacted, banks refused to confirm the meeting ― Shinhan Bank Director Park Hee-sung said he couldn't remember while Woori Bank Director Park Dong-young flatly denied it having occurred.
However, a MOSF official who declined to be named admitted that the meeting took place.
``As far as I know, banks were summoned on Dec. 26 and asked not to purchase dollars. We didn't send them any official letter, though,'' he said. |
http://koreabeat.com/?p=3462
The International Herald Tribune has a piece:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/11/asia/korea.php
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/01/11/asia/korea.php?page=2 |
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The Great Wall of Whiner
Joined: 24 Jan 2003
Location: Middle Land
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| Posted: Sat Jan 17, 2009 12:49 am Post subject: |
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Maybe the South Korean government is taking lessons from China on how to deal with people on-line.
It should be pointed out that in normal democratic societies, the prosecution would have to prove in court his writings to be false.
Sounds like from what I have heard and read that what he had written actually came to be true.
Way to go, Ajoshiis of the government, making your country look so tacky to investors hailing from democratic nations.... |
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mises
Joined: 05 Nov 2007
Location: retired
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| Posted: Sun Jan 18, 2009 4:52 pm Post subject: |
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The plot thickens...
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2009/01/18/81/0302000000AEN20090118003700315F.HTML
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'Minerva' actually group of seven experts, suspect not included: magazine
SEOUL, Jan. 18 (Yonhap) -- An on-line pundit whom prosecutors suspect of spreading false rumors on the Internet related to South Korea's economy is not who he claims to be, according to the latest issue of a monthly magazine.
The February edition of the monthly Shin Donga, obtained by Yonhap News Agency on Sunday, also reported that the controversial blogger "Minerva" is in fact a group of seven experts, not including the arrested suspect, from various areas of the financial sector.
Prosecutors apprehended a 30-year-old man, identified by his surname Park, on Jan. 7, suspecting him to be Minerva, and charged him with spreading a rumor that the Ministry of Strategy and Finance ordered leading banks and trading companies not to buy U.S. dollars in late December. Park has pleaded not guilty.
Minerva gained celebrity status in South Korea among market watchers last year and later gained mainstream public attention after a commentary by the blogger was published in Shin Donga in December 2008.
Following the arrest, the veracity of Park's alleged on-line identity was called into question after Park told reporters he had not authored the magazine article.
"Minerva is in fact not a single person but a group of seven people. I authored most of the works," said an unnamed person interviewed by Shin Donga, whom the publication cites as the author of the past commentary. The February edition will hit news stands on Monday.
The interviewee, identified only by the first initial of their surname -- "K" -- said the group was "completely unaware" of who Park was, but said that he might be an acquaintance of one of the group's members.
"K" claimed to hold a job related to investment and financial consulting and to have experience at three financial institutions in the past. The interviewee said some of the postings under the name "Minerva" were written by other experts in different fields, such as foreign exchange, real estate, stocks and bonds.
"K" also claimed to have been overseas when the report that led to Park's arrest was posted, and said that he had no hand in writing it, according to the magazine. |
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