Sep 1, 2006 02:29 PM
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A Brazilian judge gave Google 15 days (as of yesterday) to deliver the data of Orkut users accused of illegal activity. Google's social site, a failure in the U.S., took off in Brazil, apparently attracting the child pornographers and hate-speech writers that the governement is now chasing down.
Google says the data is on U.S. servers and thus not subject to Brazilian law. Brazil says that's bullshit. Expect the situation to come to a head — Google prides itself on its refusal to disclose user information, both on principle and because Google can't afford the fallout of ever breaching privacy for its millions of users.
While prosecutors claim Google has denied 38 information requests, Google claims it is cooperating but cites only 19 requests.
As the deadline nears, the judge is charging Google over $23,000 per nondisclosed profile per day. The International Herald Tribune reports the total fine as $23 million daily. In two weeks, that turns into money worth fighting for.
Brazil judge orders Google to disclose users' data [Reuters]
Brazil judge orders Google to provide information on Orkut users [IHT]
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