Google disables YouTube in South Korea

Users are unable to upload or comment on the Korean version of the YouTube Web site.

PC World reported Google decided to limit its YouTube portal because of a new law requiring Web sites to disclose the real identity of their users.

The Cyber Defamation Law, which took effect April 1, requires major Web sites to force users to provide their real names and the Korean national ID card number.

As a workaround, Korean users can continue to upload and comment on YouTube by switching their settings to another country.

The law was in response to cyberbullying incidents, which led to a suicide in October 2008 by Choi Jin Sil, a popular Korean actress.

Interesting how South Korea uses laws to deal with cyberbullying. :-T

[From PC World]

Twitter attacked by teenager

This past weekend, Twitter was under attack as the Mikeyy worm infected users’ profiles on the social network.

BBC reported the computer worm was created by Michael Mooney, a 17-year-old student from Brooklyn, N.Y. The worm was used to promote StalkDaily.com, a rival social networking Web site created by Mooney.

The worm would infect users who clicked on the link to the rival Web site. Infected profiles automatically spammed friends following these infected Twitter accounts.

According to Twitter, no personal information was compromised in the attacks. The company may also pursue legal action against Mooney.

Twitter is a popular microblogging social network Web site with more than seven million users.

Hope Twitter will become more secure after this major worm attack. -_-

[From BBC]

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 now available

Want better web browser security from Internet Explorer?

Today, Windows users can download a copy of Internet Explorer 8 from Microsoft’s Web site to install on their PCs.

PC World reported that over the past year, Microsoft has been emphasizing IE8′s faster performance, support for Internet standards and better security. The browser is available in 25 languages.

Windows 7, Microsoft’s new operating system, will allow users to disable IE8. This choice was influenced by an ongoing antitrust investigation from the European Union.

Another victory for open Internet standards. Hope this means less Web site design headaches. :-D

[From PC World]

Google Docs gets confused with permissions, shares documents without permission

Hope you don’t have a top-secret file on your Google Docs account.

A number of Google users had their documents automatically shared with contacts who weren’t allowed to access those files. This bug only affects contacts who were previously given shared access to documents set by the user. TechCrunch reported Google said only 0.5 percent of users were affected.

Google fixed the issue by deleting users’ shared preferences, resetting the sharing rights of affected documents.

Google Docs is an example of the emerging field of cloud computing, where the user accesses a data cloud to store documents and other personal information.

Seems like Google needs to debug their debugging department. o_O

[From TechCrunch]