4 Bloggers Booked for Manipulating

By Kim Rahn Staff Reporter Four bloggers were booked Wednesday for manipulating the number of hits on their writings in an online forum. Police will refer them to the prosecution ㅡ the first time that criminal charges have been filed against click manipulators. Police said they obstructed the business of Daum Communications, the operator of the online forum, Agora. The charge came two months after police seized computers from their homes. The accused posted articles denouncing the Lee Myung-bak administration and supporting anti-government rallies since May last year when candlelit demonstrations against the imports of American beef started. They allegedly raised the hits on their writings to between 110,000 and 930,000 to make their articles appear more widely read. They used ``Clickbot,'' a program that automatically increase hits by seven to eight per second. One of them made an article look as if Internet users read the story 150,000 times, police said. Most of the writings with fabricated hits became ``best articles of the week'' on Agora. ``Three articles written by one of the accused were selected in the `weekly top 10' list,'' a police officer said. Daum suspended listing ``best articles'' last year, following suspicions of such hit fabrication. ``Writings with manipulated hits draw other bloggers' attention, leading to more clicks with their comments about them. It can result in serious distortion of public opinion,'' he said. Police detected more Internet users who fabricated hits, but booked only the four who raised the hits by more than 100,000. ``They admitted wrongdoing, but claimed that it was a desperate attempt to spread their opinions in cyber world,'' the officer said. Some bloggers criticized police. ``A large number of hits does not necessarily mean that the articles have gained public sympathy, although they may draw attention. Such problem should be solved through self-cleansing,'' Internet user Punggyeongsori said. rahnita@koreatimes.co.kr