data for identity verification when publishing information on the message board. It thereby restricts freedom of anonymous expression––a type of freedom of expression that allows message board users to express and disseminate their ideas and opinions anonymously, without revealing their identity to anyone. 2. Whether freedom of anonymous expression has been infringed Identity Verification Measures, under the Provision at Issue, minimize the adverse effect due to, inter alia, the anonymity of information and communications networks, and thus, serve the purpose of ensuring and strengthening the accountability in using message boards of Public Institutions. Identity Verification Measures also discourage users of message boards from engaging in acts including verbal abuse, defamation, and spreading illegal information, thus serving the purpose of fostering a sound internet culture. For these reasons, the Provision at Issue has legitimate purposes and is an appropriate means of achieving those purposes. The message boards regulated by the Provision at Issue are, in terms of their nature, a place where issues of public nature are usually discussed. This space requires a stronger responsibility as a member of the community because its users can be anyone, and this tends to be more so in such space than message boards installed and operated by entities other than Public Institutions. Where data embodying verbal abuse, defamation, illegal information, etc. are published on the message boards installed and operated by Public Institutions, this may undermine the credibility of those message boards, resulting in harm to their users and interruption of normal operation of Public Institutions. Therefore, there is a high need to maintain the public nature and credibility of the message boards installed and operated by Public Institutions, through Identity Verification Measures, which ex ante ensure accountability and soundness. It does not seem unduly burdensome to ask users to verify their identity as a condition of - 192 -