Mr. A (24), a late taker, recently learned about a Telegram channel through an acquaintance. The channel where you can download textbooks taught by Daechi-dong instructor Ilta for free was a ‘new world’ for Mr. A. “When I was a senior in high school, I could never have imagined something like this. It was so amazing that I told it to my cousin, and he scolded me by saying, ‘This is a must-have item for test takers these days. Did you finally know about it?’”
Recently, ‘Yubin Archive’ has been active on Telegram, sharing textbooks from popular private education instructors as PDF files. The shared PDF files are paid textbooks that can only be purchased after attending a private education instructor’s lecture, but Yubin Archive was distributing them ‘for free’ without obtaining permission from the copyright holder.
Yubin Archive has been sharing textbooks for free since July of last year, saying, “We will resolve the educational gap caused by private education.” It operates in a way that students who purchase textbooks scan the textbooks and report them to the administrator, who then shares them on the channel. The number of subscribers is 203,379, which, by simple calculation, means that about 40% of the 522,670 college entrance exam takers are subscribers.
When the informant shares the textbook, Yubin Archive shares a word from the informant along with the textbook. One informant even left a comment saying, “Academy’s mock exams are really expensive, so please give them to a lot of people so I don’t waste my money.” Other informants also reported textbooks along with words of gratitude, saying, “We are indebted to the Yubin Archive.”
Regarding this, Lim Seong-ho, CEO of Jongno Academy, said, “If test takers (distributing textbooks without permission) are unaware of copyright-related laws, we must take it seriously that (such behavior) will be subject to criminal punishment.” He added, “If the fact is acknowledged and confirmed, “If this happens, we will take immediate action,” he said.
Na Jong-gap, a professor at Yonsei University Law School, said, “If multiple people have opened a room for copying for the purpose of sharing, I think it is clear that copyright infringement has been committed by a group.” “If there is, it’s commercial,” he said.
https://n.news.naver.com/mnews/article/421/0007795495?sid=102