The one-minute clip was posted at around 6 pm on Yammy, Yahooˇ¦s UCC site, which
does not require log-in or adult authentication from viewers, so children would
have had unlimited access.
Presumed to have come from a Japanese adult site, the clip rapidly attracted
some 25,000 viewers, sending it to the top of the automated "most popular
video" list. Yahoo Korea did not find out about the clip, belatedly deleting it
at 11:40 pm, five hours and 40 minutes after it was first posted, when the
press had been alerted. Yahoo Korea apologized Monday and suspended the video
posting function.
The Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Seoul Metropolitan Police have
tracked a suspect through the IP address and other data, who could face
imprisonment of up to a year or a fine of up to W10 million (US$1=W944).
Helpless
A gang rape video posted on Naver in September 2006.
Porn clips are no rarity on UCC sites, but they are usually restricted or
deleted by the site operators. But in reality, weak monitoring or hiding the
clip with a disguised title make it possible for them to remain on the site for
extended periods.
Last September, a clip showing a gang rape was accessible to the public for 18
days on Naver, the biggest portal site in Korea. An elementary student
searching for "extraordinary ideas" for a homework assignment was referred to a
blog showing the clip. 'Extraordinary ideas' was the ID of the blogger.
More commonly, porn videos are posted on UCC sites late at night, when
monitoring is even more lax. A Naver staffer admitted that a large number of
porn videos are hidden in the website, "but it's practically impossible to
delete all of them."
Need for controls
A total of 260 staff monitor content on Naver, which has 16 million visitors a day. Since the staff work eight hours in three shifts, there are actually 90 people monitoring the site at any time. Yahoo Korea only has 50 people for the job. Yahoo Korea on Monday vowed to re-examine the UCC service. Experts say a fundamental solution is impossible without strengthening monitoring.
