4 ms·

I remember hearing years ago IE usage was crazy high in South Korea because they had laws in place requiring all online banking customers to install an ActiveX

I remember hearing years ago IE usage was crazy high in South Korea because they had laws in place requiring all online banking customers to install an ActiveX control. If that's true... Then they've come pretty far.

bootlooped 7y ago
Even after ActiveX was on the way out they still had some pretty wacky practices. Korean websites requiring users to install proprietary security software was not uncommon.
- kijin 7y ago
  > Korean websites requiring users to install proprietary security software was not uncommon. It still is common. They just replaced ActiveX plugins with native Windows apps because ActiveX has a bad rep. It's still Windows through and through, and most of those "security" apps are borderline spyware. I have to use Korean banks and government websites daily for business, and I keep them safely segregated inside a VM.
  - darkhorn 7y ago
    Easy; run Windows XP, IE, ActiveX in a virtual machine. Use Linux as your main OS.
    - kijin 7y ago
      Windows 7 with IE11 currently seems to be the sweet spot. Even in Korea, using XP has been frowned upon for a few years now :)
      - hocuspocus 7y ago
        Yup, and the free Win7+IE11 VM from Microsoft doesn't really expire (you can rearm the license indefinitely).
AFascistWorld 7y ago
Most Chinese banks still do, some even require you to install a service, some don't support Chrome.
- Yeri 7y ago
  Same for Korean banks
- revvx 7y ago
  This is similar to Brazilian banks too. Both public and private. They stoped using ActiveX in the 00s but then started requiring the user to install some rootkit-like security software that was nearly impossible to uninstall and was probably able to spy on users. Now they some of them have an app that is basically a bundled browser accessing their regular website.
- xvilka 7y ago
  On the other hand nobody in China uses Web for banking. Most people I know just use mobile applications, which aren't that bad, moreover most of the operations done through AliPay/WeChat/QuickPass, so you don't need to use yacky bank things. Alibaba and Tencent have better UX in their apps. When you go to any bank you feel like a time traveller for 20 years back.
hatsunearu 7y ago
OK so Korea has this weird system which says most banking/e-commerce transactions must be authenticated by a home-grown, country wide asymmetric crypto system. Basically to do commerce stuff online, you need to get a public key certificate that you can sign your online activity with from either the government or a banking institution. The crypto nerds (including me) might think this is a splendid idea--perfect security! The downside: they did this to shift the blame to the consumer if something goes wrong. If there is a credit card fraud, the consumer is automatically at fault by default, since obviously the consumer mishandled the public key crypto file. This makes sense, but this also means no chargebacks and other nasty side effects. Also, this also meant that you had to install a bunch of ActiveX verging-on-malware-ware to get your banking shit settled. Now it supports Chrome and Firefox but holy crap, they install a ton of weird malware protection software and I'm pretty sure some of them take a cut from your computer's performance and stability. I'm just glad they don't display fucking ads.

bootlooped 7y ago

Even after ActiveX was on the way out they still had some pretty wacky practices. Korean websites requiring users to install proprietary security software was not uncommon.

kijin 7y ago
> Korean websites requiring users to install proprietary security software was not uncommon. It still is common. They just replaced ActiveX plugins with native Windows apps because ActiveX has a bad rep. It's still Windows through and through, and most of those "security" apps are borderline spyware. I have to use Korean banks and government websites daily for business, and I keep them safely segregated inside a VM.
- darkhorn 7y ago
  Easy; run Windows XP, IE, ActiveX in a virtual machine. Use Linux as your main OS.
  - kijin 7y ago
    Windows 7 with IE11 currently seems to be the sweet spot. Even in Korea, using XP has been frowned upon for a few years now :)
    - hocuspocus 7y ago
      Yup, and the free Win7+IE11 VM from Microsoft doesn't really expire (you can rearm the license indefinitely).

AFascistWorld 7y ago

Most Chinese banks still do, some even require you to install a service, some don't support Chrome.

Yeri 7y ago
Same for Korean banks
revvx 7y ago
This is similar to Brazilian banks too. Both public and private. They stoped using ActiveX in the 00s but then started requiring the user to install some rootkit-like security software that was nearly impossible to uninstall and was probably able to spy on users. Now they some of them have an app that is basically a bundled browser accessing their regular website.
xvilka 7y ago
On the other hand nobody in China uses Web for banking. Most people I know just use mobile applications, which aren't that bad, moreover most of the operations done through AliPay/WeChat/QuickPass, so you don't need to use yacky bank things. Alibaba and Tencent have better UX in their apps. When you go to any bank you feel like a time traveller for 20 years back.

hatsunearu 7y ago

OK so Korea has this weird system which says most banking/e-commerce transactions must be authenticated by a home-grown, country wide asymmetric crypto system. Basically to do commerce stuff online, you need to get a public key certificate that you can sign your online activity with from either the government or a banking institution. The crypto nerds (including me) might think this is a splendid idea--perfect security! The downside: they did this to shift the blame to the consumer if something goes wrong. If there is a credit card fraud, the consumer is automatically at fault by default, since obviously the consumer mishandled the public key crypto file. This makes sense, but this also means no chargebacks and other nasty side effects. Also, this also meant that you had to install a bunch of ActiveX verging-on-malware-ware to get your banking shit settled. Now it supports Chrome and Firefox but holy crap, they install a ton of weird malware protection software and I'm pretty sure some of them take a cut from your computer's performance and stability. I'm just glad they don't display fucking ads.