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Launched in July 2023, Yubin Archive's popularity stemmed from its mission to "eliminate educational inequality" by providing copies of educational material to less well-off students in South Korea. Operating via Telegram, Yubin Archive had grown to over 330,000 members when its operator was arrested on Tuesday. The Ministry of Culture and Sport says others involved will be tracked down and given lessons in copyright law.
Once gainfully employed, piracy of leisure products largely becomes a matter of choice. In the educational context, textbooks can be both expensive and effectively mandatory for those seeking an education, a job, and the luxury of income to spend at some point.
For less well-off students this presents a dilemma; a) no money now and no money later either, b) go into debt and introduce a new set of problems, or c) piracy.
“Eliminating Educational Inequality”
Yubin Archive launched on Telegram in July 2023 and was an instant hit with students. Offering educational materials such as textbooks, workbooks, video lectures, and exam preparation material, its motto was Eliminating Educational Inequality.
Early 2024, Yubin Archive had already amassed over 140,000 members, mostly students and of all ages. Stories of how the unofficial library had saved the day in various ways began to appear in the media. Queues to scan textbooks and have them printed onto paper were dramatically cut. Starting out with a digital copy rather than a loaned physical book yet to be scanned, let alone printed, became a thing of the past.
A report in March 2024 reported that Yubin Archive had become popular with students at law school, proof perhaps that knowledge of the law doesn’t always precede compliance.
Book Publishers and Government React
“It is not an exaggeration to say that most of the 6,000 law school students across the country have pirated files,” commented the CEO of a book publishing company early last year.
“Although we started filing complaints in May last year [2023] and sent warnings to law schools nationwide, books published in January and February this year [2024] are already being shared as files.”
An official from the Korea Copyright Commission warned that copying and distribution would breach copyright law, before conceding that punishing individuals could be quite difficult.
“Private education is essential, but there are cases where sufficient education is not received due to the burden of costs,” the then-anonymous operator of Yubin Archive added. “We have opened a Telegram channel for equality in education for all.”
As the Commission suggested, chasing down every individual involved in this type of platform isn’t feasible; recently the channel had over 330,000 members. In situations like these, it’s much more likely that those running the service and/or contributing significant content, will eventually attract enough attention to warrant an investigation.
Authorities Arrest Yubin Archive’s Operator
An official statement confirming the operator’s arrest was published locally on August 12. The timeline suggests the arrest probably took place on or around August 9. The following notice appeared on Yubin Archive on August 11.
“The Ministry of Culture and Sports’ Copyright Crime Science Investigation Team used digital science investigation (forensics) and various investigation methods to identify the core operator, conduct simultaneous search and seizure at their homes, and fully secure the Telegram criminal activities,” the Ministry’s statement reads.
“Investigations into accomplices who participated in the operation are also underway.”
Authorities Dismiss ‘Robin Hood’ Imagery
While copyright infringement at scale is almost always a crime, regardless of content type or claimed good intention, having a Robin Hood character in the mix risks dilution of key anti-piracy messaging. No surprise then that much is being made of the existence of a ‘minority room’ within Yubin Archive, access to which was only permitted upon payment of a fee.
“The core operator of the ‘Yubin Archive’, who was arrested, was found to have created a separate paid sharing channel (also known as a minority channel) while promoting the illegal sharing of learning materials as a noble act to eliminate educational inequality,” the Ministry notes.
“In addition, the illegal sharing channel was a criminal act that could instill incorrect copyright awareness in most users, including teenagers. The Ministry of Culture and Sports is committed to continuing its efforts to track and strictly respond to illegal activities that abuse anonymous channels such as Telegram, to protect the rights of creators.”