Google in trouble in Brazil as judge orders them to disclose user data

Google in trouble in Brazil as judge orders them to disclose user data

Search engine giant Google has been told by a Brazilian judge to reveal the data of users of Google’s social networking site Orkut who are under investigation by the local authorities for crimes like racism or child pornography.

The judge Jose Lunardelli has given the US based company 15 days to comply with this ruling. The information has to include data like the Internet Protocol addresses that can uniquely identify a specific computer on a network.

Google might be fined as much as 50,000 reais daily for each of these users in case they refuse to reveal this information.

The search engine company in turn has claimed that all the data related to Orkut is stored on servers located in USA, which makes them a subject to US laws. It added that their local unit in Brazil only deals in marketing and sales and has nothing to do with Orkut.