Internet giant Google on Wednesday handed over data stored by 3,261 suspected pedophile users on its Orkut social networking site to Brazil's congressional committee, local media reported.
The handover of the data, which mainly comprise of pictures and photo albums stored on Orkut, one of the most popular sites in Brazil, was part of an initiative by the Brazilian authorities to battle pedophilia crimes on the web.
Brazil's Federal Police will track the suspected profile holders and launch an official investigation if necessary.
Senator Magno Malta, president of the congressional committee, said that the Congress would ask for the disclosure of the telephone records of the suspect Orkut profile holders on Thursday, according to local media reports.
National Cyber Crime Center said last month that 90 percent of the 56,000 pedophilia allegations received in the past two years were related to Orkut.
According to Senator Demostenes Torres, another member of the committee, it was the first time that Google released secret information from its database to authorities.
"Over the past two years, there have been 50,000 pedophilia reports. Google, arguing that it was a question of privacy, especially because the data was hosted in California, refused to release it," said Torres.
Google's Director of Communication Carlos Felix Ximenes admitted that it was the first "big privacy disclosure" allowed by Google, as the company had never provided imagery to investigators before.
Ximenes told the press that the company will start to report to Brazil's public prosecution office all profiles that arouse suspicion of cyber crimes, including racism, homophobia and religious intolerance.
Google has been cooperative with crime investigators in Brazil, fulfilling approximately 360 demands from local courts last year, he added.
Source: XinhuaAuthor：china business Time：2008-05-24 From：china daily
