YouTube Cripples Own Site to Evade Korean Law
- Categories: International, News
- Date: Apr 14, 2009 15:34 JST
- Tags: Censorship, Google, Internet, Korea, Law, Politics, YouTube
YouTube has decided to cripple its Korean site rather than comply with a new law which would force it to publish the real names of all contributors and commenters on the site.
An amendment to a “cyber-defamation” law recently went into effect, requiring websites which have more than 100,000 unique users per day to list their real names and national identification card numbers.
What prevents users from falsely supplying these is not clear, but sites have no choice but to comply.
In response to the law, YouTube Korea, in consultation with Google, its US-based parent company, has disabled the ability of its Korean user base to upload videos or make comments on existing videos.
YouTube Korea in its current form can now only be viewed, but not interacted with, by its primary user base. It seems likely that this will pose problems to the growth in Korean language content on the site.
Google justified the maiming of its Korean site by citing its selectively applied “Do no evil” principles. Rachel Whetstone, Google’s vice president of public affairs, posted the following justification on Google’s Korean blog:
Google thinks the freedom of expression is most important value to uphold on the Internet. We concluded in the end that it is impossible to provide benefits to Internet users while observing this country’s law because the law does not fall in line with Google’s principles.
Google’s adherence to its principles runs directly contrary to the intent of the cyber-defamation legislation. The law’s proponents have argued that removing anonymity would curtail much of the savagery springing from the Korean Internet community.
Korean Internet users have a well deserved reputation for thuggish behavior. Numerous and well publicized incidents of mass cyber bullying have lead to real life confrontations, loss of reputation and significant financial losses for their victims.
The most egregious incident led to the suicide of famed actress Choi Jin-sil. Choi was apparently driven to suicide after a series of online rumors viciously attacked the actress’ financial dealings and character.
At times this aggressive online character also spills out onto overseas sites, typically motivated by nationalist indignation.
Korean reactions to the changes made by YouTube have been mostly indifferent. Google itself publicized a workaround where a Korean user could switch their preference setting to a country other than Korea, bypassing the limits set within the Korean site.
Also, Koreans accessing the site outside of Korea and non-Koreans (assuming they do not use the Korean language version) living in Korea have not been affected.
Unlike its presence in the West, YouTube Korea has a much smaller profile, so such a muted reaction is not altogether unexpected.
The application of the cyber defamation law seems rather uneven. Popular game forums such as those belonging to Korea’s World of Warcraft, which presumably falls under the amended legislation, still allows for the use of anonymous Internet pseudonyms.
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Youtube 1 - Korea 0
You haven't read the entire article, have you?
tl;dr
I think it would be Korean law 1 - Youtube 0
Wrong, it's youtube 1 Korean law 0
They haven't done as the law says
Youtube chose to make a stand... yes its too bad that the people have to suffer the consequences of their governments decision but if they care enough to over turn it they can try.. until then Youtube doesn't have to roll over.
btw, Anonymous never forgives nor forget. Fuck Korea.
Maybe meant that it's cool YouTube is standing up for free expression, user privacy, etc.
i dont like pokari sweat. :( (refering to photo)
That's not Pocari Sweat, it's 'Pocari Sweet'!
No, that's Poccari Sweet....
Ponari Sweat(Only Indonesian knows this..., just type ponari case in google)
LOL XD
i think ponari sweat is becoming a meme in indonesia...
Indeed... orz
Seriously. Touma could do better with his Right-hand sweat.
anyone notice that the cord is in the wrong side of the mouse?
ah jeeze... after further inspection i realize i fail ; ;
no because its not?
it seems you need to read this
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-a-Computer-Mouse
lol, indeed.
it's not a mouse, but a USB-powered vibrator, thank you.
i'm actually disturbed by the tissue box.
For oily skin maybe? It looks like summer after all.
Yes, yes... Tissue box aren't really needed when watching youtube videos.
now I really thank God that I'm not Korean...firstly, because of their hatred to Japan and now..no youtube??? how can I post my shows if I am a Korean...tsk tsk...gud luck Koreans with your awesome laws!
And to answer your question, how about a korean living in the states or some other god damn country where they can post videos! omfg...I didn't know being a certain ethnicity prohibited you from doing certain shit.
I'm just glad I'm not korean with your brains...because I think I wouldn't be able to post videos on youtube.=[
God damn I hate koreans who make these stupid f**king law..and hate the god damn country too.
c'mon anon, isn't it too obvious to you that I'm referring to Koreans IN South Korea...
stop being a poser leet, god! you can correct if this article is not about Koreans IN their country...
You only know korea from Sankaku. That's not exactly south korea, yknow.
Kill yourself.
O noez! If you had to post your real name and national id, you'd never post comments like that, anon! D=
I'm I really thank God that I'm not an uneducated nincompoop that makes accusations based on what the media pumps into the population. You think all Koreans hate Japanese and vice versa? Oh then you must think All Americans are gun toting trigger happy rednecks? Not to mention then you would think that all black people like grape juice and chicken? Get out of your room, turn off your computer, go outside and check out the real world, talk to people. Most importantly, get educated, and LEARN. You'll find that such stereotypes and racist comments are not always true.
*face palm*
again...I am referring to Koreans who hate Japan and their stuff, I am not generalizing that all Koreans hate Japan and besides correct me but is this also the government who banned Hetalia?
anons are sure annoying...
I'm pretty sure all the anons will agree that you've not made any clarification on your initial comment to allow the readers to distinguish that you were referring to Koreans and Japanese who hate each other.
Like how I don't like your obnoxious attitude that lacks complete respect for the other individual, but hey, it's the internet. Who gives a shit I guess. It's a dog eat dog world here, the weak will perish.
yah, I admit that my initial comment has too many loop holes or double meanings but nah, I'm sure they'll understand...
End this stupidity, please, this hating business goes both way. Either way your attempt of trolling doesn't benefit anyone here.
What are u talking about?
All black people i know love chicken.
And all Italians are in the Mafia. Its common knowledge.
if you read the article, there is an easy way around it.
agree
"Unlike its presence in the West, YouTube Korea has a much smaller profile, so such a muted reaction is not altogether unexpected."
Most Koreans don't use YouTube.
Maybe you should try reading the article again.
Obviously they have video sites other than YouTube which are more popular and widely-used in the country, because they sure don't give a lot of shit about what happened.
Bravo Youtube, bravo Google!
+1
....
well thats one way of doing it, dont know why they just didnt completly remove it altogether
Probably so the whiny Koreans wouldn't bitch about not being able to get on Youtube totally.
That's quite a law they've got there.
Very interesting.
Not much can be said here,huh? Well,anyway..that's a good decision Youtube making there. It would be much a nuisance to the privacy of the users.
amazing what korean government waste their time on
Amazing what most governments will waste their time on <_<;
Korea is not the only one to come up with such frivolous laws to restrict their citizen's freedom
Unfortunately, I have to agree. Korea does NOT have the lock on stupid laws, the United States has enough of them to totally outweight South Korea any day of the week.
whenever i here of news from korea it always involves internet trolls and the like... this law is a good way to stop those trolls but it certainly is not the best because other innocent people get their rights stepped on... killing a few weed does not mean to clear the whole field
The problem is that most of these 'internet trolls' are simply telling what they believe is true. Last time I heard, that wasn't illegal in ANY country, South Korea included.
Basically, just get used to internet trolling and ignore it! MAN UP, as they say, and stop acting like a pansy with a 200 foot razor sharp metal stake heated to 2000F up your butt!