비디오텍스 통신시대 법률의 인터넷상 의미 고찰 - 프랑스 미니텔과 한국의 PC통신 비교 연구 -

Videotex was one of the earliest implementations of an “end-user information system”. From the late 1970s to mid-1980s, it was used to deliver information (usually pages of text) to a user in computer-like format, typically to be displayed on a television or a monitor. Unlike the modern Internet, all traditional videotex services were highly centralized. Two most successful examples are the ‘Minitel’ of France and the ‘PC communication’ of Korea. The prosperity of the ‘Minitel’ in France did not lead to the development of the Internet. However, in spite of the relatively short period of the videotex communication, Korea could grow to one of the Internet powers of the world. Nevertheless, thanks to the comparative advance of the IT(Information Technology) base, France could apply the videotex-related laws to the new Internet communication system via step-by-step amendments with little conflicts. But the fast change of Korea's IT environment failed to provide enough time to review diverse legal issues on the PC communication, which led to the lack of stable legal assets. It resulted in legal fluctuation in the Internet era that various new laws and regulations have been enacted and amended as an attempt to catch up with the rapidly changing Internet environment rather than to establish consensus-based legal principles. In the current situation where all people communicate at the speed of light, we need active comparative studies of other country's legal system, because certain legal problems in a country today could become a facing issue in another country tomorrow