Published Date: September 1, 2006

In short- I doubt it. Bloggers have got hold of this one– A judge in Brazil has ordered Google to disclose the data of Orkut users’ who have been accused of crimes such as child pornagraphy. If Google doesn’t comply? A fine of roughly $30,000 per day for each individual case. I’m not sure where I stand on this one, as there are definitly two sides to this. Sure, the data is only being requested for those accused of crimes and could help put away criminals. On the other hand, from a legal perspective (though I’m no lawyer), if Google complies with one case like this- the precedent will be set for governments far and wide. The clock is ticking…15 days for Google to decide before being subject to the fines…