Despite failing in America, Google’s Orkut has become a popular phenomenon not only inside Brazil, but in India as well. Unfortunately Orkut is attracting various bad elements (i.e. criminals) within its forums, forcing Google to cooperate with Indian authorities who seek to place these offenders in handcuffs.
(Tech2.com) The recent controversy surrounding social networking site, Orkut has prompted parent company, Google, to work towards making it safer and friendlier for Indian users. Google has assigned a team from its headquarters, to work closely with the Delhi Cyber crime investigation cell. A Google spokesperson has confirmed the initiative and revealed that the team will be meeting the police from various Indian states, to develop a special ‘reporting tool’ for Indian authorities.
The spokesperson said, “We take the misuse of Orkut very seriously and are reaching out to the appropriate authorities in India to address this.” The initiative is directed towards supporting the law enforcement authorities in their investigation against Orkut and Gmail abusers.
Certain government officials were previously upset over Orkut when they discovered members mocking certain historical/religious figures as well as creating a “We Hate India” forum. Google is attempting to walk a fine line between freedom of speech and law & justice, although thus far they seem to be leaning towards users interests.
The government in India still has to contact the Google office in silicon valley for permission to acquire personal info from users (which they may decide on a case-by-case basis) although hopefully Google will limit its use to criminal activity and not vocal activists.
(Hat Tip: WebProNews)
Darnell Clayton writes on Inside Orkut, detailing what goes on inside Google’s community forums.
