Thursday, 24 August 2006

Brazil Sues Google for USD 61 Million

Cyber crime like any other crime is a serious crime. But when it comes to fixing the responsibility authorities falter or do they? Google Company Orkut, a social network site and the Brazilian authorities are at loggerheads regarding the allegation that several community pages on Orkut, have been used to organise criminal activity and promote child pornography. The Brazilian prosecutors want a federal judge to order Google to hand over user information on the Orkut pages that are being investigated for promoting crimes.

Google declined to share data saying that Brazilian laws are invalid in the US. Nicole Wong, a spokeswoman for Google also said, "We have obeyed all the judicial orders that requested we remove undue content. Some orders demanded that we turn over user information for investigation and we complied."

Durval de Noronha, a lawyer representing Brazil's Google unit, said in a conference call with reporters, "The company is doing all it can to cooperate with the investigation." He said the company has so far complied with 15 out of 19 requests for information.

The prosecutors want Google to pay a USD 61 million fine and asked that if it refuses to comply with its request, the Brazilian unit will be dissolved. Brazil comprises 72 percent of Orkut users, which is rather significant.

"We have and will continue to provide Brazilian authorities with information on users who abuse the Orkut service, if their requests are reasonable and follow an appropriate legal process," Google concluded.