RIO DE JANEIRO, BR – Google Inc. announced yesterday that it has agreed to close some communities on Orkut.com, Google’s popular social networking site, communities which Brazilian authorities claim advocate violence and human rights violations.A spokesperson for Google said, after meeting Tuesday with a Brazilian human rights commission, the company has agreed to shut down any sites that violate Orkut’s terms of service, which include a provision prohibiting “any illegal or unauthorized purpose.”
The human rights commission reportedly presented evidence at the meeting that some Brazilians have been using the networking sites to promote crime and various acts of violence.
“Orkut does not condone any of the communities that advocate violence and are a threat to human rights,” said Nicole Wong, an attorney for Google in a statement issued this week.
Another spokesperson for Google said the company also provides authorities with information about Orkut users that “abuse” the service but that such information is provided on a case-by-case basis and only in response to law enforcement requests that are “reasonable and follow an appropriate legal process.”
“It is our intention to be as cooperative in the investigation and prosecution of crimes as we possibly can, while being careful to balance the interests of our users, our business and the request from the authorities,” the Google spokesperson wrote in a statement issued Tuesday.
“There are millions of communities for Orkut members to join, including hundreds of communities dedicated to education, peace, health, the environment and ways to eradicate poverty,” the statement continued. “However, just as in the offline world, there will always be individuals or speech in online communities that certain people find offensive or inappropriate.”
Orkut is tremendously popular among Brazilians with an estimated eight million users there, comprising approximately 25-percent of the total number of Brazilians with access to the Internet.
Luiz Eduardo Greenhalgh, a member of the Brazilian congressional commission, said Google has already agreed to remove six specific Orkut sites, and to help law enforcement agencies identify the users who posted the pages as part of a “preliminary accord.”
“I am satisfied with progress of the agreement, but we only expect to reach a final agreement in 15 days,” Greenhalgh told ABC News.
Greenhalgh added that the agreement will require Google to hold user information for up to six months, in order to provide time for Brazilian courts to issue subpoenas, should subpoenas be necessary.
Orkut has also been cited as a source and distribution point for child pornography and racist material, and the Brazilian government threatened Google with a lawsuit previously, alleging that Orkut served as a manner of pulpit for child predators and hate speech.
