Digital undertaker

Poet Kim Ji-ha said in his memoir that he was thrown out from a class where students painted the four Gracious Plants when he was a Seoul National University student. He painted a chrysanthemum at one stroke instead of painting it carefully as his instructor said. Even after that, he insisted that he draw chrysanthemum at one stroke. Drawing a stroke means dotting or drawing a line.

The world has changed today as many people think tattoos are part of fashion. However, tattoos can never be erased. It is no use crying over spilled milk. This is why people feared tattoos as a punishment. Once a tattoo with a word - thief - is done on one’s face or arm, the person could not lead a normal life. This is why criminals with tattoos lived in a separate place in the past. It was the Scarlet Letter in the west, it was the “Black Letter” in the east as a symbol of segregation. Today, many people suffer from the Digital Scarlet Letter in the free cyber space.

As companies screen online reputation of applicants, jobseekers began to hire a digital undertaker to remove their online records that can be potentially problematic. Some news reports said that as the U.S. mandates visa applicants to submit their username of social media that they used over the past five years, those who want to study in the U.S. are busy deleting posts and pictures. Today’s adage can be “There is no oblivion in the online world.”

Kim Ho-jin, who founded digital undertaker Santacruise Company in 2008, said that if a minor wants to delete his or her online legacy, Kim requires the individual to bring a certificate of 10 to 20 volunteer hours instead of money. It is because he saw many young people commit suicide as a footage or a photo of a naked body is spread by mistake. He said though he gets many phone calls, the company is making losses five years in a row due to the lack of deals. There are around 20 companies like it. Last year, the Korean Employment Information Service predicted that a digital undertaker will be a popular occupation in five years.