By Kim Tong-hyung
Staff reporter
It was just a year ago when South Korean Internet users praised Google as a safe haven for privacy while debating government attempts to impose restrictions on the Web.
However, the U.S. Internet giant now appears to be struggling to keep its ``don't be evil'' motto here, with local users expressing anger over the company's supposedly lax support for its mobile content and blogging services.
The story of 2010 for the Korean technology sector has so far been the rising popularity of featured-packed smartphones, dominated by intriguing devices such as Apple's iPhone and Samsung Electronics' Omnia II bringing the market on the cusp of a mobile Internet explosion.
This was also assumed to have opened new opportunities for Google, which had struggled to compete with Korean-language portals like Naver (www.naver.com) and Daum (www.daum.net) in the desktop arena.
Google had hoped that its wealth of experience and products in mobile search and its presence as the main backer of the Android mobile platform, considered the industry's best bet against Apple's supremacy in consumer smartphones and mobile content, will finally allow itself to be relevant in the local market.
While no one doubts that Google is becoming more essential to Korean users with the Web going mobile, this also means that its services are destined to draw larger scrutiny. And based on the criticism aired through the media or on comments in the blogosphere, Google doesn't seem to be doing so well so far in the court of public opinion.
The biggest complaint is related to Google's decision to prevent Korean users from uploading files on YouTube from handsets powered by the Android operating system, which include Motorola's Motoroi, Samsung's Galaxy A and HTC's Desire.
This is certainly ironic, since the users of Apple's iPhones and iPods aren't under any limitations in using Google's online video site from their devices.
The controversy erupted back in February with the debut of Motoroi, the first Android handset to hit Korean shelves, but an indifferent Google has so far expressed no desire to eliminate the inconsistency.
``Google is certainly in danger of being described `evil' by Korean users,'' wrote a blogger in Tatter Media (www.tattermedia.com), an online magazine.
``It seems that the users are ending up the only losers in the fight of egos between the Korean government and Google.''
Google claims it is just trying to be consistent ― it had blocked users from uploading videos and posting comments on the YouTube's Korean site since last year to avoid dealing with controversial local regulations.
Under renewed Internet rules, users are required to make verifiable real-name registrations when leaving comments or posting files on Web sites with more than 100,000 daily visitors. Although civil liberties advocates raised concern over the suppression of legitimate online speech, the government claimed that a heavy-handed approach is inevitable to curb cyber-bullying and libelous online claims.
Google's refusal to bend its privacy standards was lauded by many Internet users here, but it appears like the same people are now criticizing the U.S. search giant for leaving YouTube crippled for the users of Android smartphones.
Officials at the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), the country's broadcasting and telecommunications regulator, are now saying it would be legally difficult to restrict YouTube uploads from iPhones and other data-enabled handsets since YouTube no longer operates a separate Korean-language site.
``The real-name requirements involved the now-defunct kr.youtube.com, but not www.youtube.com,'' Cho Hae-geun, an official from KCC's network policy bureau, told reporters in March.
The attempt to extend desktop rules to mobile devices is obviously awkward, and critics are now blaming Google for a rigged interpretation of local law as well as its unwillingness to communicate with Korean policymakers.
However, Lois Kim, a Google Korea spokeswoman, said the restrictions on Android handsets will continue unless the KCC changes its rules on online identity verification.
``We can't make business decisions based on news reports when the KCC has yet to officially announce the changes of how it will interpret and impose its Internet rules,'' she said.
A limited YouTube doesn't help the marketability of the Android mobile platform, which has yet to reach a level to compete toe-to-toe with the extensive applications available at Apple's App Store. The Korean censorship law that requires a pre-release review of all game content has already forced Google to shutdown games in Korean Android accounts.
Smartphones are not the only area where Google is losing the popularity contest ― its decision to close its Korean blogging service, Textcube, is generating backlash from bloggers too.
Textcube, originally created by Tatter and Company (TNC), was bought by Google in 2008, marking the Internet giant's first major acquisition in Korea.
However, in an announcement last month on its official blog, Google announced that Textcube will be absorbed by its main blogging platform, Blogger.com, a departure from its earlier stance that the two services would be developed separately.
Some Textcube users are now expressing frustration about their Web pages being taken over by Blogger.com.