Google Fined For Not Blocking Dirty Jokes
from the there-once-was-a-man-from-nantucket dept
sinsi was the first of a few of you to send in the news that Google has been fined by a Brazilian court for not blocking some dirty jokes on its Orkut social network (which, for reasons no one has explained, is only popular in Brazil). This isn't the first time that Google has run into legal trouble over Orkut -- though it appears in every case that the Brazilian courts seem to blame Google for any action done by its users. Have they no safe harbors in Brazil? Do courts really not understand why it makes no sense to blame the service provider for actions of their users? Amusingly, the court even cited the fact that Google censors content in China as a reason for why it could do so in Brazil -- but left out Google's recent decision to pull out of China entirely, rather than continue to filter results.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: brazil, censorship, dirty jokes, fines, orkut
Companies: google
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Brazil's new slogan
That should draw in the tech companies.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
funny note: On boingo boingo Xeni Jardim was just complaining about a supposedly rip off of some artist that did some cut outs from maps(not a original idea).
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Nissan ad in Brazil.
Funny how people react to things.
She is concerned that some ad agency from Brazil copied the idea from another artist that she knows and goes on to insinuate that this is not cool, and many people point out the errors of her ways.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
"Dude go back to your mommy, she lives under that bridge over there."
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Hmm...
*runs to patent office*
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Orkut's Popularity in Brazil
If you remember back, that was right around the same time that MySpace was gaining in popularity amongst teens and twenty-somethings in the United States. MySpace gained enough users to be self-sustaining in America, while the closed nature of Orkut became popular with Brazilian (and Indian) users.
As MySpace grew in importance in America, the number of active American users at Orkut atrophied. The more that left, the quicker the atrophy.
As a user who signed up for both services right around the same time, it was an interesting transition to watch.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Orkut\'s Popularity in Brazil
I wonder why, maybe the way Orkut works seems more natural to Brazil than Facebook or Myspace.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]