Among the many repercussions of actress Choi Jin-sil's death is a crackdown on the so-called "jjirasi," or information newsletters, that are widely circulated among workers in securities firms.

Police have pointed to a rumour spread by internet jjirasi as a cause for Choi's suicide. Jjirasi is a privately issued newsletter containing a wide range of information -- political and economic issues, the latest business information and even celebrity scandals are included. The problem lies in that the vast majority of the information carried are unfiltered, unconfirmed rumours.

These newsletters, said to have originated in the 1980s, were initially printouts that were distributed to subscribers. The strict control of the flow of information during successive authoritarian regimes made such newsletters an attractive alternative source of information. Some say that the "underground" newsletters in those days did offer some important information that were not available to the public.

The newsletters are now also distributed through e-mails and online messengers, making them instantaneously available to a large number of subscribers. It is difficult to discern the point of origin of information spread through online messenger services, as demonstrated by the futile attempt from the police to trace who started the rumour that Choi Jin-sil was a loan shark.

Given that the sources of these information are unknown and that it is not confirmed information, why are businesses and individuals paying money for what are essentially unfounded rumours?

Many subscribers say that regardless of the veracity of the information contained in the newsletters, they need to collect as much information as possible. They cannot risk missing key, undisclosed information that may be in the newsletter, they claim.

Fair enough. However, do people really need to know about celebrity scandals in order to do their job? The latest celebrity gossip is a regular item in the newsletters. An alleged scandal last year involving a singer which originated in a jjirasi caused so much speculation that the police conducted an investigation into his whereabouts -- the singer eventually held a press conference to deny the rumours.

In the wake of Choi's suicide, newsletter operators are reported to be more circumspect in the type of information they carry. A brokerage house has warned its employees against spreading potentially libelous information on the messenger.

Because online messages are not stored in the server, the police will find it nearly impossible to completely root out all forms of jjirasi. What is possible, however, is for the subscribers to ignore gossip materials and demand that they not be included in the newsletters.