Brazil judge orders Google to disclose users' data

[Zeb_Carter]

Well, it was bound to happen somewhere in the world...

Comments? Link to story.

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SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - A Brazilian judge has ordered the local office of Web search company Google (Nasdaq:GOOG - news) to disclose the data of users of Google's social networking site Orkut accused of crimes like racism or child pornography.

Federal judge Jose Lunardelli ruled late on Thursday that Google be given 15 days to disclose the information, including the Internet Protocol addresses that can uniquely identify a specific computer on a network.

The judge set a daily fine of 50,000 reais ($23,255) for each individual case if Google refuses to reveal the data.

Brazilians account for 65 percent of Orkut's nearly 27 million users and public prosecutors have recently been investigating Orkut communities set up by Brazilians and dedicated to such subjects as racism, homophobia and pedophilia.

Google officials in Brazil have said all clients' data is stored on a server in the United States and is subject to U.S. laws, which makes it impossible for them to reveal the data in Brazil. They also said the local affiliate only deals in marketing and sales and has nothing to do with Orkut.

"The fact that the data are stored in the United States has no relevance as all the photographs and messages investigated by the prosecutors' office were published by Brazilians using Internet connections on the national territory," the judge said in his ruling.

He said Google's local office had shown a complacent attitude toward "the serious crimes practiced on Orkut" and showed "profound disrespect for national sovereignty."

Company representatives could not provide an immediate comment on the ruling. Google lawyer Durval Goyos earlier called the case against the company absurd.

 

[wazhazhe]

“Google officials in Brazil have said all clients' data is stored on a server in the United States and is subject to U.S. laws, which makes it impossible for them to reveal the data in Brazil.”

If true, this pretty much makes the ruling mute.

"The fact that the data are stored in the United States has no relevance as all the photographs and messages investigated by the prosecutors' office were published by Brazilians using Internet connections on the national territory," the judge said in his ruling.”

Unless Google’s actions violate international law or certain agreements between the US and Brazil or between US and Brazilian companies, the servers located in the US would seem to be beyond the jurisdiction of this court. It may be able to have some say in what passes through servers in Brazil but that’s about it.

“He said Google's local office had shown a complacent attitude toward ‘the serious crimes practiced on Orkut’ and showed ‘profound disrespect for national sovereignty.’"

Welcome to the world wide web. :rollyeyedemoticon:

 

[shereads]

Give it up, Google! It's about time somebody cracked down on people who use the internet to look at dirty pictures and spread lies about the Brazilian government.

They jam the system, disrupting my search for dirty literature and hampering my mission to spread the truth about that lunatic in the White House.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Give it up, Google! It's about time somebody cracked down on people who use the internet to look at dirty pictures and spread lies about the Brazilian government.

They jam the system, disrupting my search for dirty literature and hampering my mission to spread the truth about that lunatic in the White House.

Amen

Literoticans have a God given right to search for Porn and dis the mentally challenged in Washington DC... unlike those people living in underdeveloped countries who should be better spending their time feeding their families and making tourist shit for our vacations. DAMN THEM!!