

No Backbone As Google Bows To Korean Government And Bans Users With Fake Names - Mgreen
http://www.siliconvalleywatcher.com/mt/archives/2009/04/no_backbone_as.php
"What's the point in Google portraying itself as company with strong principles when it won't stand up and defend them? What would it be losing if it refused?"
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jrockway
This is indeed odd. youtube.kr is a US-based website hosted in the US. I don't
see how Korea thinks it has jurisdiction over all websites using korean
characters. (If they can demand that youtube.kr require real names, why can't
they demand that youtube.com require that? I can log into youtube.kr with my
.com account, which is definitely not using my real name. In fact, I am
_automatically_ logged in.)

If I were less cynical I would make some comment about this being an April
Fool's joke... but it's probably not.

~~~
BobbyH
South Korea does have the power to regulate youtube.kr. This is because .kr is
a country code top-level domain and the registry for .kr domains is the
National Internet Development Agency of Korea
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Internet_Development_A...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Internet_Development_Agency_of_Korea)).
There are restrictions placed on .kr domains
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.kr>) such as a requirement to have a local
presence in South Korea, etc.

This gives South Korea power to affect youtube.kr. South Korea has no direct
power to regulate youtube.com, although it would have indirect power to
regulate youtube.com in South Korea via its power to threaten Google that it
can take away the youtube.kr domain.

~~~
ComputerGuru
So screw South Korea.

I mean, China we can understand. That's a sixth of the world's population so
even if their policies are absolutely retarded; there's some sense to Google
listening to them in so much as it affects the rest of the world.

But South Korea?

~~~
barry-cotter
South Korea is currently ~2.5% of global GDP, China ~6%. The UK is ~3.9%.
South Korea is legitimately a big deal, and writing off that market would be
dumb, by the most conservative estimate its the 16th biggest economy in the
world, and its internet active population is waaay above trend, so its even
more important for Google than that alone would suggest.

~~~
jrockway
But you don't need a .kr domain to do business in Korea.

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jacoblyles
"we have a responsibility to protect your privacy and security" is compatible
with forcing users to use real names. It is not compatible with disclosing
private data that the user has entrusted to you.

