Software tracks online comments

A new software program, designed to help stamp out online crime and conduct more sophisticated market research, will make possible more intrusive searches of cyberspace, a prospect that alarms many Internet users. Jointly developed by Sookmyung Women’s University and a public relations consulting firm, the software scours portal sites, Web sites and bulletin boards like a regular search engine. But it also checks personal Web logs, homepages and online clubs, and organizes the findings into graphs, said Jo Jung-yul, the university’s professor of public relations. For example, if one used the program to search for the name of a politician, not only would a list of relevant Web pages appear, but one could also have the computer produce a graph showing how many times the politician was discussed in a positive or negative light. Mr. Jo said the cyberspace-monitoring tool, called “Merry Christmas,” will offer accurate data on public opinion on politicians, entertainers and brand names. It will also be able to detect sources of online libel, enabling authorities to block it. But it is the program’s ability to record who says what about whom that concerns privacy activists. Despite the developer’s optimism, the new software is likely to stoke the current controversy over alleged privacy violations committed by Internet search engines such as Google. Worried that the new invention might facilitate a crackdown in cyberspace, some Internet users argue that collecting Web posts without consent from the writers is an infringement of privacy. Others are concerned that the software’s analysis may be used to try and manipulate public opinion over political issues. “The act of gathering posts on private homepages is a downright violation of privacy,” wrote one member of Korea’s largest portal site, Naver. A spokesperson from a Web portal forecast that the new search tool may result in many people cutting back on how often they use their computers. by Chang Chung-hoon, Seo Ji-eun