One Molka Eliminated for Woman, One Giant Leap for Womankind

“My life is not your porn.”

Nearly 70,000 women were on the streets of Seoul during a protest on August 4th, 2018. It was the largest female-organized demonstration in South Korea and also the fourth protest that year against the unnerving prevalence of hidden camera-related crimes, also known as molka.

Over 30,000 molka cases have been reported in South Korea since 2013. Disguised as smoke detectors in fitting rooms, drilled into toilet seats, or rolled into the lips of trash bags in public restrooms, cameras can be found everywhere (May, 2018). Moreover, of all molka perpetrators, 98% are male, only 31.5% face prosecution, and only 8.7% face jail time, which has induced an outrage among women across the nation and has even drawn international attention (Gong, 2018). To solve the problem of molka would be one step forward in achieving the UN's 16th Sustainable Development Goal: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions.

A viable solution to molkas would be a mobile app for molka detection that utilizes the phone’s camera and flashlight functions and additional hardware. This app would detect hidden cameras through a double-scan process. The first scan would scan for RF, or radio frequency, transmitters. Molka perpetrators commonly utilize wireless cameras, which transmit RF when sending illegal footage. They can be detected by this scan. A limitation is that cameras cannot be detected if turned off (Harper, 2019). However, when turned off, they impose no serious problem. Another downside is that other devices also transmit RF, including radios, Wi-Fi routers, satellites, and radars (EPA, 2021). They would also be caught during the first scan, causing false alarms or false positives. This is why the second scan is necessary to identify which devices are hidden cameras. The second scan will utilize the phone’s camera and flashlight. Its goal is to identify molkas by the reflection of their lenses by flashing an intensive light onto them. This reflection-based technique is often utilized by government agents to find hidden cameras and will likely produce effective results in the mobile app as well (Murray, 2021). The second scan will be selectively conducted on the suspicious locations identified during the first scan, which will lead its user to the likely molka locations. The app will guide its users through this process, so any user will be able to check her safety by herself.

In order for this solution to be successful, the software and hardware engineers building the app will have to cooperate with businesses. Such businesses are the likes of Apple, Samsung, and Huawei, which controlled 44% of the smartphone market in 2017 (Gartner, 2017). This is because the hardware needed for the RF-based scan is not present in any smartphone model yet. The app engineers must cooperate with businesses to incorporate RF modules into increasingly slim phone models. If they cooperate, the necessary hardware could be released in future products, and the app could be utilized by buyers across the world. Since not everyone can afford the latest iPhone, we must also consider underprivileged women around the world. A big tech pattern in the past decade was that companies tend to copy each other with major innovations. Once big brands release phones with RF-detecting hardware, smaller businesses selling cheaper products would follow (Pogue, 2016). These affordable companies could be the likes of Motorola, whose $160 smartphone released in 2021 received rave reviews (Sin, 2021). The widespread availability of this app in phones of every price range ensures that every user can feel safe anywhere, any time.

The creation of this app will enable women to feel at peace in a public space without having to fear their vulnerability being exploited by molkas - finally putting an end to one aspect of society’s “boys will be boys” mindset. That’s one molka eliminated for woman, one giant leap for womankind.

Bibliography

May, T., Lee, S. (2018, September 3rd). Is there a Spy Camera in That Bathroom? In Seoul, 8,000 Workers Will Check. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/03/world/asia/korea-toilet-camera.html
This article educated me about molka on a deeper level, because prior to reading, I was unaware of which public locations molka perpetrators targeted (bathrooms, changing rooms, and fitting rooms). The statistics in this article were also very useful for backing up my argument that a solution to molka is absolutely necessary because of just how many cases are being reported over the last few years. In addition, this article included some emotional anecdotes from molka victims that moved me, and made me more passionate than ever to propose a good solution to eradicate molka.

Gong, S., Sullivan, M. (2018, October 18th). South Korean Women Fight Back Against Cameras in Bathrooms. NPR. https://www.npr.org/2018/10/19/648720360/south-korean-women-fight-back-against-spy-cams-in-public-bathrooms
This article highlighted valuable statistics surrounding molka, including the prosecution rate of molka perpetrators and the number of protesters  during the August 2018 molka-related protest (an astounding 70,000). It was very useful for me when I was highlighting the injustice that molka induces in society, since these statistics showed clear misogyny and lack of government effort in punishing the molka perpetrators, and how this injustice is felt by women (proven by the turnout rate of the protest).

Pogue, D. (2016, November 1st). When Tech Companies Copy One Anothers’ Best Ideas, Consumers Suffer. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/when-tech-companies-copy-one-anothers-best-ideas-consumers-suffer/
This article was very informative on the copying trend prevalent in the tech industry, where major advancements made in one company will follow in other companies. It was useful when I was considering inclusivity for my solution, since cheaper smartphones will likely have the same type of technology as the more famous brands such as Apple or Samsung once models are released, so the app will be available in a variety of price ranges.

Sin, G. (2021, November 18th). Motorola Moto G Pure Review: An Easy Bargain. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/22787370/moto-g-pure-review-4g-android-budget-phone
This article taught me that even the cheapest phones available (such as the Moto G Phone, costing just $160) on the market can still have recent technology inputted into them, which reassured me that my solution to molka (a mobile app) would be easily accessible by any woman of any socioeconomic background, since inclusivity is always important.

Harper, E. (2019, April 10th). The Secrets to Finding Hidden Cameras. Techlicious. https://www.techlicious.com/tip/the-secrets-to-finding-hidden-cameras/
The article educated me on the basic techniques used by manual device-tracking machines, for example, how wireless cameras can be tracked by detecting RF waves. The information was incredibly useful in developing my engineering design, because the app’s detection services revolve around identifying RF-transmitting objects.

Murray, K. (2021, November 23rd). Spy Camera Detectors - Do They Work? Counter Espionage. https://counterespionage.com/spy-camera-detectors/
This source also covered techniques to use to manually search for hidden cameras. However, one way it was uniquely useful was that it educated me on the reflection-based technique, which I used in my app’s second scan to eliminate non-camera objects identified as suspicious in the first scan, which searched for RF-transmitters (also covered in this article).

Environmental Protection Agency. (n.d.). Non-Ionizing Radiation From Wireless Technology. United States Environmental Protection Agency. https://www.epa.gov/radtown/non-ionizing-radiation-wireless-technology#:~:text=In%20addition%20to%20cell%20phones,or%20receive%20RF%20energy%20waves
This webpage thoroughly explains how RF transmitters work and gives examples of modern devices that transmit RF. The source was not only useful for understanding how to detect wireless cameras that transmit RF waves, but also helped me understand a potential flaw in my engineering design, which was that devices other than molkas would also be detected in my app’s primary scan. Overall, this article gave me the technical knowledge and logic I needed to back up my design with engineering reasoning.

Gartner. (2018, February 22nd). Gartner Says Worldwide Sales of Smartphones Recorded First Ever Decline During the Fourth Quarter of 2017. Egham, UK. Gartner. https://www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2018-02-22-gartner-says-worldwide-sales-of-smartphones-recorded-first-ever-decline-during-the-fourth-quarter-of-2017
This source gave me statistics covering which technology brands dominate the industry (Apple, Samsung, Huawei). This was useful information because I was able to understand that these three brands not only control a great fraction of the industry, but also have a great influence on smaller companies that sell cheaper products. Such information came in handy when I was researching the recent trend of smaller companies copying larger brands in technological advancements, because as engineers cooperate with these big brands, specifically the three mentioned as main targets, and release the app with the necessary hardware, cheaper products from these small companies are released with the hardware as well, which is a great aspect in terms of inclusivity.