“Orkut has become famous primarily as a relationship site, but it is undeniable that such goal has often been distorted. With the practice of preserving user anonymity, the Orkut site provides a fertile space for the practice of crimes, putting in risk the right of third parties, who for sure will have to be compensated.”
- Henrique Eduardo Duarte Saad, Lawyer, Brazil, in September 2006
There are the controversies associated with Orkut.com (Orkut), a social networking site of the US-based search engine company Google Inc. (Google). Orkut became very popular in non-American countries like Brazil and India with 72% of the users being Brazilians and 18% being Indians.
Through this site, the members could search for and contact their old friends (who were also members at Orkut), make new friends and form forums (called communities) and discuss on varied topics. However, several events in Brazil and India tarnished the image of the website and these events also led to a growing debate on the safety of the members using such networking sites.
Orkut was being seen as a medium of promoting hatred toward some religions and communities, illegal drug dealings and child pornography. It also witnessed growing incidents of fake profiles to demean the character of the victims. There were a few cases of kidnappings and murders which were allegedly planned out on Orkut. As a result of all these incidents, there were several litigations that were filed against Orkut and Google in India and Brazil.
The Brazilian Fiasco
On May 17, 2006, Bloomberg reported that Google might face a criminal probe in Brazil as it was reported that some of the users of Orkut were involved in distributing child pornography and racist material. Google was asked to release information on where this illegal material had come from. Google Brazil then wrote back to the prosecutors saying that the content on Orkut was not its responsibility
Orkuts Problems in India
In October 2006, in connection with a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) , a court in
India issued a notice to Google. The PIL was filed by an advocate Yugant R.
Marlapalle (Marlapalle). The PIL was against the ‘We Hate India'community
being operated on Orkut. The community showed a picture of the Indian flag
burning and posted several anti-India messages and slogans.
Hello Hardeep, I am from Brazil and I can testify that the there has been quite a lot of problems with child harassment on Orkut. This is a big shame, but I believe it doesn't happen only in Brazil, but also in many other countries.
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