South Korea’s courts have been busy lately. While a recent ruling that both Apple and Samsung infringed each other’s patents in that country is unlikely to be warmly received, a decision by Korea’s Constitutional Court is likely to have more far-reaching implications for its netizens.

Eight judges at South Korea’s highest court have decided to strike down a controversial law that states all internet users must use their real names online. According to the Associated Press, the judges reached a unanimous verdict that the law went against South Korea’s constitution, saying:

“Expressions under anonymity or pseudonym allow (people) to voice criticism on majority opinion without giving into external pressure.”

“Even if there is a side effect to online anonymity, it should be strongly protected for its constitutional value.”

Known as the “Internet Real-Name System” the law required that any site which received more than 100,000 hits a day had to keep records of any user who posted comments. As such, users were required to provide their real name and national ID number to authenticate any comment they made.

However, the law proved difficult to enforce, as many of Korea’s most popular websites got around it by using overseas web hosting services, which meant that they were not obliged to keep records of their users.

Korean authorities introduced the law back in 2007, in an effort to curb libelous speech and abuse comments, and stop the spread of false rumours in cyberspace. Previously, South Korea was hit by a wave of celebrity suicides which were apparently motivated by malicious comments posted online, and this is thought to have been one of the mobilizing factors behind the attempt to control interent users.

Despite this law change, Korean internet users continue to be some of the most heavily policed in the world, to the point where Reporters Without Border’s recently saw fit to place the nation on its list of “Countries Under Surveillance”.