Google complying with Brazilian court on user data

Google says it is cooperating fully with court orders in Brazil to hand over data on users of its Orkut social-networking site, which is hugely popular in that South American country.

Google has provided data in response to 30 court orders, the search giant said in documents filed in Sao Paolo on Thursday related to a . It alleges that Brazilians are using Orkut to distribute child pornography.

Google, headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., and the parent of Google Brazil, is providing the data from its servers, which are based in the United States, the company said.

Google said it intends to respond to eight more court orders for additional data before the varying deadlines on each order are up. Neither Google nor its Brazilian subsidiary has received eight additional court orders specified in the lawsuit, according to the parent company.

"It is and always has been our intention to be as cooperative in the investigation and prosecution of crimes as we possibly can, while being careful to balance the interests of our users and the request from the authorities," Google spokeswoman Debbie Frost said in an e-mail. "We have and will continue to provide Brazilian authorities with information on users who abuse the Orkut service, if their requests are reasonable and follow an appropriate legal process."

Google faces a fine of more than $23,000 a day or the shutting of its Brazilian office if it fails to comply with court orders in Brazil.

Most of Orkut's members--more than 60 percent--are in Brazil. The company recently removed members from the service, as it routinely does, if they are found to be violating the terms of service.