The date is set for the Google/Brazil showdown - the Brazilian government wants Google to hand over the Orkut data it seeks within fifteen days. Google will face some very hefty fines if it chooses not to cooperate.
“It would have to pay a daily fine of $93,000,” according to a Reuters article. “The complaint also requests that Google be forced to pay a fine of $61 million for collective damages caused by its refusal to obey previous judicial orders.”
A SearchEngineWatch article indicated that the consequences might not be as dire as all that - it reported a potential fine of only $23,000 per day. “Google has said that they would work with Brazil to shut down (some) Orkut . . . communities but according to the court filing in Sao Paulo yesterday, those requirements have been ‘unsatisfactorily met,’” the post continued.
The Reuters article corroborated some of these details with a quote from Google’s Nicole Wong. “We have obeyed all the judicial orders that requested we remove undue content,” she said. “Some orders demanded that we turn over user information for investigation and we complied.” Google apparently saw the problem coming.
“In anticipation of the complaint,” the article stated, “Google’s Brazilian unit petitioned a judge on Monday to name an independent specialist to determine whether it is withholding user information. In its request, Google said its Orkut pages are housed on its server in the United States and that Brazilian authorities should request that information from its headquarters, not its Brazilian unit.”
Regardless of the varying details between different news reports, it sounds like things are going rather poorly for Google in this South American country.
Tag: Google
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