WebProNews

Google agreed to the Brazilian government's request to shut down a list of Orkut communities reported to violate Brazilian laws regarding violence, human rights, and other criminal activities.

Immensely popular in Brazil with 8 million users, Google's invitation-only social networking site has been the target of harsh criticism from the government as a haven for drug dealers, soccer hooligans (organizing soccer-related gang-like violence), and even presidential assassination plans.

The Age reports that after a meeting with a Brazilian human rights commission, Google agreed to shut down any community areas that violate Orkut's terms of service, or promote "illegal or unauthorized" purposes.

"Orkut does not condone any of the communities that advocate violence and are a threat to human rights," Google attorney Nicole Wong said in a statement.

Reporters were told by a Brazilian congressman that Google would remove six Orkut websites in particular, and would provide the police with information about who set up the sites.

Google would not confirm that information as the company was still waiting for the government's list of violating websites.

| document.write("Email WebProNews here.")

Drag this to your Bookmarks.

Add to document.write("Del.icio.us") DiggThis Yahoo My Web