p2pnet.net News:- Google, which routinely cooperates with China over online censorship issues, has been told by Brazilian prosecutors to supply information for a criminal investigation, or face the consequences.

These could include a $61 million fine, “and the closure of its Brazilian web site, unless it supplies information about Orkut pages,” says The Inquirer. “Google may also face a daily fine of over $90,000 if it doesn’t comply with prosecutor requests that it discloses user information.

“Google wants to appoint an expert to assess whether it’s complying with legal requests but because the Orkut server is based in the United States it needn’t comply with such Brazilian requests.”

Reuters says a Google spokeswoman last week stated the company was cooperating with Brazilian authorities.

“We have obeyed all the judicial orders that requested we remove undue content,” it had Google spokeswoman Nicole Wong saying at the time. “Some orders demanded that we turn over user information for investigation and we complied.”

Google Brazil said despite “attacks from the prosecutor’s office,” it doesn’t have a, “data bank of its Orkut communities or any information about those users,” says the story, adding:

“Orkut has about 16 million users, and about 72 percent of them are Brazilian, according to Google data.”

Among other things, Orkut is said to have been used to push drugs, mainly ecstasy and marijuana, online.

Also See:
online censorship - China Net censors named, August 14, 2006
The Inquirer - Google faces $61 million fine for withholding user data, August 23, 2006
Reuters - Brazilian prosecutors seek lawsuit against Google, August 23, 2006
push drugs - Google Brazil controversy, March 13, 2006

---

Please help p2pnet to overcome the Kazaa / Hemming libel lawsuit. Every penny counts. Canada’s antiquated defamation law chills online freedom of speech .

---