While millions continue to log into social networking sites like Orkut and Facebook to make friends and socialise, a small but growing number of individuals are also logging on to share not only their personal problems but also to find solutions for them.

Social networking sites are are increasingly taking the shape of the new age online 'agony aunt'.

"Orkut has been a great strength of support for me. I had lost all faith in destiny till I logged on to a kidney transplant community where people with similar problems pepped me up by writing down their experiences," says Sarath Kumar from Hyderabad.

Sarath, who is looking out for a kidney donor for himself adds, "They were people who told me what to do, what all precautions I should take and even suggested names of some good doctors that I could get in touch with."

The popularity of such networking sites turning out to be the agony aunt can be gauged from the hundreds of help communities that have been set up, be it from complex issues like kidney transplants, blood cancer to much smaller issues like teenage heart breaks.

Not only do these communities attract a large number of members who indulge in periodical discussions to offer help to the one seeking, many also take part in these discussions as non members.

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You know you are one important social-networking site when hacker write a worm just for you. Judging by this logic, Orkut is more than special, with a second worm roaming now free between the site's users. Dubbed W32.Scrapkut, the worm uses active code injection to spread between victims and their friends on Orkut. It all starts with a malicious scrap posted to the victim’s scrapbook, with a link to a YouTube video.

The soon-to-be-victim clicks the link and then he is prompted to install what it looks like a flash player upgrade (“flashx_player_9.8.0.exe”), from an external site. When installed, the file injects malicious Javascript code into their next active Orkut web session and the malicious scrapbook entry is sent to all his friends.

At present time, over 13,000 users have already been infected, and the numbers more than likely to go much higher if Google (the owner of Orkut) doesn't step in with a quick fix.

Last December, another worm made it into the accounts of over 655,000 Orkut users before Google could take care of it.

An analysis on the W32.Scrapkut is available on Symantec's site. According to it, you need not worry for the time being, as the malware seems to be interested only in spreading itself.

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The computer is personal again and now even your virtual personality will be tamperproof.

Popular social networking site Orkut now offers better privacy for your videos, those-oh-so mushy testimonials and behold, that much-used and abused scrapbook.

Is this a sudden awakening to the gross misuse of the website? Or is it a face off with Facebook?

Orkut users are more than happy with the new features. After all, it means less eavesdropping on personal conversations and Orkut puts it, ''no more anonymous friendship requests''. But with a large number of users shifting to rival Facebook, is it too little too late?

Although Orkut still enjoys first mover advantage and has a large penetration even in tier-two cities, a large slice of urban Internet users are finding Facebook a better place to network for the sheer number of features it offers.

But with no way to assess the number of active users on each portal, looks like the Orkut versus Facebook debate will continue to rage.

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Pune, February 23 Life has turned bizarre for class 12 student Rakesh Kanojia (name changed) ever since his cell phone number was posted on Orkut on Valentine’s Day saying it belonged to Jasmine - a call girl. Since then, Kanojia started receiving calls from different parts of the country and even abroad soliciting the services of Jasmine.

“I receive at least 25 calls a day, most of them during the night. My exams are scheduled on February 29. The lewd and lurid calls are cutting into my study time,” said Kanojia, a resident of Wanavdi. It’s all the more difficult as he goes to a night school and works during the day.

Sudam Choure, adviser of the Pune police cyber committee, said, “There are many who are facing a similar problem. Many more are likely to be affected in the future. Kanojia has done well by going to the police. There are many who avoid the police and just change their cell numbers.”

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Their paths crossed once in a while. Quick glances were exchanged. This trackside colony in busy Dadar (east) does not give two shy people much more leeway than that.

Left to themselves, Gauri Sambrani and Ronil Sheth (names changed) would have remained just neighbours.

But then there is that simple twist of fate. And Orkut.

Ronil was surprised to find Gauri on a friend’s profile on the social networking site and added her to his profile. “It began from there,” says Ronil, 21.

After two months of chatting online, they met at a Ganesh festival party in the colony but still did not speak. The next day — independently — they both sent a ‘crush’ request on Orkut. “It was amazing that we sent the request the same day,” said Gauri, 20. “After that, we began sending mushy messages and had the first date soon after.” Both are seriously involved now.

“The Internet is great for people who are shy or introverted,” says Ronil.

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The computer is personal again and now even your virtual personality will be tamperproof.

Popular social networking site Orkut now offers better privacy for your videos, those-oh-so mushy testimonials and behold, that much-used and abused scrapbook.

Is this a sudden awakening to the gross misuse of the website? Or is it a face off with Facebook?

Orkut users are more than happy with the new features. After all, it means less eavesdropping on personal conversations and Orkut puts it, ''no more anonymous friendship requests''. But with a large number of users shifting to rival Facebook, is it too little too late?

Although Orkut still enjoys first mover advantage and has a large penetration even in tier-two cities, a large slice of urban Internet users are finding Facebook a better place to network for the sheer number of features it offers.

But with no way to assess the number of active users on each portal, looks like the Orkut versus Facebook debate will continue to rage.

Read the rest of this entry »

Google's social networking site , Orkut.com has become an integral part of Indians' lives, a top official of the company said on Friday."We are quite pleased with what we have seen with both the loyalty and usage of Orkut in India.It seems to have become a very central part of people's lives and we are very proud of the fact that people get value addition," Shailesh Rao, Managing Director, Google India told reporters on the sidelines of a management seminar here on Friday.Rao said Google had launched several products in local languages in India."Today, on Orkut, the users can transliterate using an English keyboard into Hindi, can view Orkut content in multiple regional languages," he said.The MD also said the company had a lot more work to do in India and "our time in India is much more ahead of us than behind us."To a query if other social networking sites were beginning to eat away at Orkut's users, he said "In fact, we are quite pleased with how users are taking to all kinds of services on the internet including social networking. In India, what we require is more diversity, more services, more options, more experimentation, more innovation. So I think it is wonderful there are more platforms that Indians can use and experiment lots of things."Rao said the company's Indian operations had the largest number of employees next only to its US operations.He said India would be the focus country for the company to carry out product and service developments.

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Social networking sites are fast becoming a hotspot for cyber criminals.From morphed pictures to defamatory comments, police officials have their hands full with complaints from users.Many people have already become victims of obscenity on social networking websites. The Delhi police has recorded over 200 complaints in the past one year alone, regarding morphed photos and derogatory profiles on popular sites, such as Orkut and Facebook.22-year-old Shraddha is one of those targeted.“A fake profile was created on Orkut and a picture was also uploaded. This person was chatting in my name to hundreds of other people whom I didn’t know, whom I didn’t have any idea about,” she said.Cyber Law expert Karnika Seth says, “I think the percentage of reporting (of such cases) may be only close to five per cent at the moment because there are glaring instances when people are not going (to authorities). Sometimes, they are scared to take any legal action.“Mumbai has also seen a rise in cyber crime. In August, 16-year-old Adnan Patrawala had been kidnapped and murdered by friends he had made through Orkut. Although the miscreants were apprehended in this case, experts and law enforcers feel that websites should be held accountable for the content they post.Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Marya says that Mumbai’s police are on the job.“We are investigating two cases and seeking legal opinion on them,” he said.Under the Information Technology Act, a cyber-criminal can face up to three years in prison a fine of Rs 2 lakhs for hacking e-mail accounts. Offenders for obscenity in the virtual world face up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine or Rs 2 lakhs.Cyber criminals can also be charged under the Indian Penal Code for defamation and criminal intimidation.

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