Blackmoor Vituperative

Federal judge Jose Lunardelli ruled late on Aug. 31 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.

(eWeek, Judge Orders Google to Disclose Users’ Data)

It will be interesting to see how that works out.